What does it mean to be in community? This panel brings together activists, scholars, and writers to explore connections between critical social issues—health justice, discrimination, technofascism, and surveillance—and the possibilities of grassroots response. Panelists will discuss tensions between collectivizing and collaborating: How do we negotiate care when our access to care hinges on being identified and enumerated by the state? What tactics for resistance might we use in digital communities that are subject to increased surveillance? How can we be there for and with each other?
Can technology improve the lives of Black boys? Recently, new reports, with familiar conclusions, discuss the way Black boys continue to fall behind, which is partially responsible for shrinking enrollments of Black men in college. Particularly striking are the declining numbers at HBCUs. In turning this conversation away from negative reporting toward positive action, we will explore the ways technology can intervene and provide new opportunities, pathways, and platforms for Black boys to thrive.
This panel brings together Black feminist scholars, writers, and public intellectuals to examine how and why debates about gender, sexuality, and nationality consistently emerge as top topics on social media platforms within Black discursive communities. How do algorithms and influencer culture contribute to sowing discontent and misinformation among Black social media users? We consider the social and political implications, who ultimately benefits from these conversations, and how we can make different choices around our own engagement and participation.
Everything is on fire. The supports disabled people need for survival are being decimated. The robots are coming after us, harvesting our data, surveilling us, and determining who is worthy to live. What can we do? How might the wisdom of disability elders and cross-movement organizers equip us for what’s happening and what’s to come? This roundtable brings together disability culture workers, activists, writers, and scholars to think-together about disability futures.
For the first time, two of the most popular apps in the world – TikTok and the A.I. chatbot DeepSeek – are Chinese. American legislative efforts to restrict or outright ban Chinese apps and other technologies on the grounds of national security have dominated recent headlines. During a time of political turmoil, increasing hostility towards trade with other nations, and the rush to maintain U.S. dominance over the tech industry, anti-Chinese sentiment has (re)surfaced in ways that echo earlier American anxieties about Asian labor competition and racial difference. This panel will bring together Asian American media scholars and culture creators to analyze what this climate means for our shifting technological landscape, Asian American communities, and race relations in the U.S.
