Full Description
Traces the rise of black participation in cyberspace.
2009 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title
Deftly interweaving history, culture, and critical theory, Anna Everett traces the rise of black participation in cyberspace, particularly during the early years of the Internet. She challenges the problematic historical view of black people as quintessential information-age outsiders or poster children for the digital divide by uncovering their early technolust and repositioning them as eager technology adopters and consumers, and thus as coconstituent elements in the information technology revolution. She offers several case studies that include lessons learned from early adoption of the Internet by the Association of Nigerians Living Abroad and their Niajanet virtual community, the grassroots organizing efforts that led to the phenomenally successful Million Woman March, the migration of several historic black presses online, and an interventionist critique of race in contemporary video games. Ultimately, Digital Diaspora shows how African Americans and African diasporic peoples developed the necessary technomastery to ride in the front of the bus on the information superhighway.
Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Toward a Theory of the Egalitarian Technosphere: How Wide Is the Digital Divide?
2. Digital Women: The Case of the Million Woman March Online and on Television
3. New Black Public Spheres: The Case of the Black Press in the Age of Digital Reproduction
4. Serious Play: Playing with Race in Contemporary Gaming Culture
5. The Revolution Will Be Digitized: Reimaging Africanity in Cyberspace
Conclusion
Notes
Works Cited
Index
