Digital Commons Network^™

Algorithmic Legal Reasoning As Racializing Assemblage, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Ama Nyame-Mensah, Allison R. Russell

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

But Will It Play In Grand Rapids? The Role Of Gatekeepers In Music Selection In 1960s Top 40 Radio, Len O'Kelly

Len O'Kelly

Blood-Speak: Ward Churchill And The Racialization Of American Indian Identity, Casey R. Kelly

Casey R. Kelly

After publishing a controversial essay on 9/11, Professor Ward Churchill's scholarship and personal identity were subjected to a hostile public investigation. Evidence that Churchill had invented his American Indian identity created vehemence among many professors and tribal leaders who dismissed Churchill because he was not a “real Indian.” This essay examines the discourses of racial authenticity employed to distance Churchill from tribal communities and American Indian scholarship. Responses to Churchill's academic and ethnic self-identification have retrenched a racialized definition of tribal identity defined by a narrow concept of blood. Employing what I term blood-speak, Churchill's opponents harness a biological concept …

Commercial Content Moderation: Digital Laborers' Dirty Work, Sarah T. Roberts

Sarah T. Roberts

In this chapter from the forthcoming Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Class and Culture Online (Noble and Tynes, Eds., 2016), I introduce both the concept of commercial content moderation (CCM) work and workers, as well as the ways in which this unseen work affects how users experience the Internet of social media and user-generated content (UGC). I tie it to issues of race and gender by describing specific cases of viral videos that transgressed norms and by providing examples from my interviews with CCM workers. The interventions of CCM workers on behalf of the platforms for which they labor directly contradict …

Book Review: Monique W. Morris, Black Stats: African Americans By The Numbers In The Twenty-First Century, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

Monique Morris’s short volume contains a wealth of information for scholars. Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century is an invaluable resource for researchers, and is highly recommended for undergraduates, graduates, media professionals, and activists. Morris’s work contributes to the ongoing discussion about black identity, representations in media, and intersection with other identity markers such as gender, religion, class. While not strictly a text about communication studies or rhetorical studies, the author’s text complicates the ways in which black people are represented in the media by using statistics to challenge simplistic notions of identity in film, …

Ideologies Of Language And Race In Us Media Discourse About The Trayvon Martin Shooting, Adam Hodges

Adam Hodges

From Freedom Rides To Justice Rides: Analogizing Social Movement Rhetoric In A Post-Identity America., Michelle Kearl

Michelle Kelsey Kearl

This presentation explores the rhetorical strategies, specifically the use of analogy, used in the rhetoric of the Created Equal organization. Created Equal, an anti-abortion activist organization, argues that it is a social movement in the vein of the Civil Rights Movement. The rhetoric employed by the organization is remarkable in its pedestrian attempt to veil its religious ideology, as well as its attempt to closely associate itself with the traditional Civil Rights agenda. Specifically, the tactics, images, and promotional material used and produced by the organization both explicitly and implicitly equivocate their commitments to stopping abortion to the demands of …

The Broadband Digital Divide And The Nexus Of Race, Competition, And Quality, James Prieger, Wei-Min Hu

James E. Prieger

We examine the gap in broadband access to the Internet between minority groups and white households with geographically fine data on DSL subscription. In addition to income and demographics, we also examine quality of service and competition as components of the Digital Divide. The gaps in DSL demand for blacks and Hispanics do not disappear when income, education, and other demographic variables are accounted for. However, lack of competition is an important driver of the Digital Divide for blacks. Service quality is an important determinant of demand, and ignoring it masks the true size of the DSL gap for Hispanics.

Hands On Hips, Smiles On Lips! Gender, Race, And The Performance Of Spirit In Cheerleading, Laura Grindstaff, Emily West

Emily E. West

Cheerleading has long been synonymous with “spirit” because of its traditional sideline role in supporting school sports programs. In recent decades, however, cheerleading has become more athletic and competitive - even a sport in its own right. This paper is an ethnographic exploration of the emotional dimensions of cheerleading in light of these changes. We argue that spirit is a regulating but also flexible concept that is deployed in order to manage and uphold ideologies of emotion, and that these ideologies are central to how cheerleading reproduces racialized gender difference. On the one hand, the performance guidelines for spirit stabilize …

Crisis Preparation, Media Use, And Information Seeking During Hurricane Ike: Lessons Learned For Emergency Communication, Jennifer A. Burke, Patric R. Spence, Kenneth Lachlan

Patric R. Spence

The Mother’S Gaze And The Model Child: Reading Print Ads For Designer Children’S Clothing, Christopher Boulton

Christopher Boulton

To view the video version of this argument, please visit https://works.bepress.com/chris_boulton/14/
This audience analysis considers how two groups of mothers, one affluent and mostly white and the other low-income and mostly of color, responded to six print ads for designer children’s clothing. I argue that the gender and maternal affiliations of these women—which coalesce around their common experience of the male gaze and a belief that children’s clothing represents the embodied tastes of the mother—are ultimately overwhelmed by distinct attitudes towards conspicuous consumption, in-group/out-group signals, and even facial expressions. I conclude that, when judging the ads, these mothers engage in …

Language And Negotiation Of Ethnic/Racial Identity Among Dominican Americans, Benjamin Bailey

Benjamin Bailey

No abstract provided.

Danger In The Safety Zone: Notes On Race, Resentment, And The Discourse Of Crime, Violence, And Suburban Security, Cameron Mccarthy, A. Rodriguez, E. Buendia, S. Meacham, S. David, Heriberto Godina Phd, K. E. Supriya, C. Wilson-Brown

Heriberto Godina PhD

No abstract provided.

Malthusian World(S): Globalization, Race And The American Imaginary In The Immigration Debates Of The Twentieth Century, Ronald Walter Greene

Ronald Walter Greene

No abstract provided.