Annenberg Research Seminar: Race, ethnicity and digital communication policy debates

Race, Ethnicity, and Digital Communications Policy Debates: Making the Case for Critical Race Frameworks within Communications Policy Issues

In this talk, Annenberg communication doctoral students Rachel Moran and Matthew Bui discuss how three civil rights and racial minority-focused advocacy groups — i.e., the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP), Free Press, and Tribal International Carrier (TIC) — have engaged, or circumvented, internet policy issues to better serve the communication and technology needs of their underrepresented constituents. In accordance with the tradition of critical race theory (à la Kimberle Crenshaw and Cheryl Harris), they strive to approach this legal and policy research in a grounded, nuanced manner that does not uphold white supremacy under guises of whiteness as a starting point for social analysis. Namely, through our case study analyses, they look to deeply explore the complexity of the concerns and experiences of a variety of communities of color in order to promulgate inclusive communications policy and frameworks in current and future policymaking. Based on their analyses, they make recommendations regarding future directions for communications policy and communications policy research, in light of goals of racial justice and equity rather than reproducing the status quo and therein reproducing historical racial inequalities through policy. Following a discussion of the research paper, the authors will also discuss their research process in an effort to demystify research collaborations for the early graduate students in attendance.

This paper was awarded the Charles Benton Junior Scholar award by TPRC (the Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy) and the Benton Foundation for its scholarship in the area of digital inclusion and broadband adoption. 

Lunch will be served. No RSVP needed.