Data Questions

I recently gave a talk at the University of Tennessee about the work we are doing at the intersection of Afrofuturism and Digital Humanities. At some level, I’m attempting to drill down and examine how the definition of digital humanities was expanded in the early 2000s to incorporate counter histories and alternative structures. I’m particular inspired by the work of Kodwo Eshun and his assertion that Afrofuturism is a toolkit created in century hostile to black culture. He points to a particular formulation of the future through institutional practice that is ripe for disruption using black digital humanities practices. What I think we need to do is recongize how the data record has long history of black resistance and the nature of that resistance is critical to any process of equity because it provide the space to create fuller picture of the ways oppression has undercut liberation practice. While that assertion is not new, the idea that recovering knowledge of black spaces and institutions as a means to create a critical lens to redefine what success can be considered has some powerful implication on how capitalism assigns winners and loser. The idea that capitalism is racialize is no revelation, but by concentrating on building a systemic archive of black resistance to exploitation in the post-Reconstruction era, I think we can understand important assumptions about race, capital, and property that ultimately we will need to address to create transformative action.