automating black joy -a disco co(lab)
with support from the Just Tech Fellowship, as part of the Social Science Research Council
est. 2025
Automating Black Joy is a project that points a critical lens toward the future of AI. We examine automation and AI through the lens of Black feminist inquiry and toward the goal of liberation and joy. A goal of the project is the development of a multi-generational research team from high school students through University faculty to consider the relationship between Black joy and automation via communication scholarship. By researching the implications of AI in education, politics, media, and the environment, our collaborators will collectively imagine possibilities for liberation. Together, we will build, write, and create using microgrants, skills workshops, and research teams over the next academic year. This collaboration will be led by Dr. Catherine Knight Steele, Director of the BCaT lab and an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland and a 2024-26 Just Tech Fellow.
book club
The BCaT Book Club is the first component in the Automating Black Joy future collaborative project. Join us for conversations about theory and practice. We will consider speculative fiction, critical design, the historical role of Black skepticism, and more in pointing a critical lens toward the future of AI. By reading about the implications of AI in education, politics, media, and the environment, we will begin to collectively imagine possibilities for liberation.
