Cultural Appropriations of Technical Capital

Abstract

OF TECHNICAL CAPITAL Black women, weblogs, and the digital divide The aim of this paper is to use cultural and technical capital as a sensitizing framework for exploring novel ways of thinking about information and communication technology and social inequalities. This paper takes a particular focus on three weblogs in which women of different ages, social classes, and races constructed discourses on Black womanhood. The participants employed their personal experiences, structural analyses of racism and sexism, media criticism, and aesthetic arguments about Black women's worth, beauty, and value to articulate their vision of Black womanhood. In earlier times, these conversations would have taken place in beauty salons, or other gendered spaces where these conversations could proceed unknown to broader society. In today's information society, these conversations have spilled over to the Internet. It is our contention that this phenomenonthe articulation of cultural capital mediated through technical prowess -is a strong argument against the deficit models of minority information and communication technology use promoted by digital divide research.

From differentiated use to differentiating practices: negotiating legitimate participation and the production of privileged identities

“…In subsequent years, researchers attempted to identify which factors, in addition to access, account for differentiated use of different media technologies and infrastructures, including personal computers, the internet, mobile phones, social network sites, video games, and tools for media production. While numerous factors were proposed, a consensus emerged that skills (Brandtweiner et al 2010;Hargittai 2002;Livingstone and Helsper 2010;Mossberger et al 2003;van Deursen and van Dijk 2011), or related concepts such as literacies Warschauer 2003), or cultural or technical capital (Brock et al 2010;Gilbert 2010;Halford and Savage 2010;Tondeur et al 2011;Zhang 2010) are key factors in the production of differentiated use and hence digital inequality. By implication, interventions aimed at equalizing digital access and skills should help narrow gaps in certain uses -those thought to be particularly beneficial -and hence help ameliorate social inequalities.…”

Resisting media marginalisation: Black women’s digital content and collectivity

“…The participants' focus on online self-representation and re-embodied solidarity is aligned with the concept of a digital oppositional gaze (Boylorn 2008;Brock, Kvasny and Hales 2010;hooks 1992), as well as forms of discursive activism, which Gabriel (2016) identifies among Black women in Britain who are bloggers.…”

“…As another systemically marginalised 'consumer group', Black people have turned to the internet in an attempt to avoid and resist discrimination and exclusion that they may experience in offline media and consumption settings (Everett 2008;. Still, cyberspace is a hive of activity within which the complete suspension of racial identification and racist imagery is not possible (Brock, Kvasny and Hales 2010;Byrne 2008;Daniels 2009;Noble 2018).…”

Cultures of participation—for students, by students

“…issues by disseminating HIV prevention information to college students, in general, and Black college students, in particular, with an initial focus on women. Though digitally connected and significant users of social networking, Black women are more likely to be excluded from or misrepresented by the mainstream health services discourse and information (Payton & Kiwanuka-Tondo, 2009;Brock et al, 2010;Warren et al, 2010). Limiting their access to health services or dampening voices in the discourse offers an opportunity to provide targeted health education.…”