Reading Groups

Visions and Dilemmas of Race, Space & Place -- Spring 2017

The AADHum Initiative’s reading group provides a space for critical dialogue and exploration for African Americanist scholars thinking about their work in terms of the digital. Drawing on a robust syllabus that centers black experience, it probes the ethical, empirical, and epistemological considerations of working at the crossroads of digital studies and African American history and culture. Complementing AADHum’s Digital Humanities Incubator, the reading group equips scholars with a conceptual toolkit to fortify their scholarly, pedagogical and social justice commitments.

For the Race, Space, and Place series, we’re drawing on a robust syllabus that centers black experience and probes the ethical, empirical, and epistemological considerations of working at the crossroads of digital studies and African American history and culture. For a look at our readings go to http://aadhum.umd.edu/reading-groups/

To Connect, Learn, Engage and Collaborate with the AADHum Team go to AADHum.umd.edu

The Spring 2017 sequence includes six reading group sessions:

Holding Space
Wednesday, February 1

Holding Space provides participants with a critical foundation for understanding the language, concepts, and frameworks that guide some of the most pressing questions and dilemmas in black digital scholarship.

Where and When We Enter
Wednesday, February 8

Where and When We Enter examines the empirical and ethical considerations that inform the strengths, pitfalls and potential of varied theoretical approaches for exploring the African American experience.

Geographies and Genealogies of Knowledge
Wednesday, March 1

Geographies and Genealogies of Knowledge surveys the historical and contemporary landscape of black digital research, tracing its development and evolution.

Theorizing "The Archive"
Wednesday, March 29

Theorizing “The Archive” explores one of the fundamental tools of black digital scholarship—the archive. We examine how the authority, reliability and completeness of the archive can be challenged when scholars engage with sources in traditional, unorthodox and unanticipated ways.

Intersectionality and Critical Race Theory
Wednesday, April 26

Intersectionality and Critical Race Theory situates black digital scholarship within two of the most prominent frameworks for understanding African American history and culture, in conversation with pioneers in these fields, Dean Bonnie Thornton Dill and Dr. Patricia Hill Collins. Part of The Critical Race Initiative’s Parren Mitchell Symposium.

A Room of Our Own: Trial and Triumphs of Generating Theory
Wednesday, May 3

Trials and Triumphs of Generating Theory reflects on how scholars can use their newly acquired conceptual and empirical approaches to cultivate and refine their theoretical sensibilities and empirical orientation to digital blackness.