Leveraging technology: how Black girls enact critical digital literacies for social change

Author

Patricia Garcia, Cecilia Fernández & Holly Okonkwo

Year

2020

Publisher

Learning, Media and Technology, T&F

DOI/Link

https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2020.1773851

Abstract

This study examines critical digital literacy practices among 390 Black girls,
ages 13–17. Through a data sharing initiative with a community
organization, we conducted a qualitative analysis of 3120 narrative
responses describing their views of technology. Grounded in Black
feminist epistemologies, our study found that the girls reconciled their
views of technology with their existing standpoints and desires for social
change. Our findings highlight how Black girls leverage technologies to
account for their ways of knowing and existing in the world, including
using technology to author activist identities and express feelings of
agency. Our findings challenge researchers and educators to expand
their understanding of critical digital literacy in ways that honor Black
girls’ complex experiences and existing practices.

Keywords

Media Literacy, Digital Literacy

Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

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