Monday, May 3rd, 3 pm EST via Microsoft Teams(link below). 

Brooke Bosley

Committe: 

Dr. Susana M. Morris (advisor), LMC, Georgia Institute of Technology 

Dr. Chris Le Dantec, LMC, Georgia Institute of Technology 

Dr. Andre Brock, LMC, Georgia Institute of Technology 

Dr. Jessica Tran, Microsoft Corporation 

Title: Afrofuturist Feminism: "Reinserting Blackness, Queerness, and (dis)Abilities in the Design Process"

Abstract: 

In 2020, the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, Brayla Stone, and countless other Black lives reignited social protests across the United States and globally. These deaths magnified the countless ways that white supremacist structures such as police brutality and transphobia enact violence across Black communities. Companies such as Procter & Gamble, Ben & Jerry's, Sephora, GM, and others sought to address police brutality through countless diversity statements on Black Lives Matter. These statements included commitments to hiring more Black employees and creating equitable products. Even technology companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM released similar statements that echoed these sentiments, which is ironic considering how some of their products have caused harm in Black communities.

Technological fixes to these problems will not necessarily solve racial inequity; however, they can ultimately change how we build and create tools for marginalized communities for the better. We need principles that help designers, engineers, and researchers push for more equitable technology solutions centered around Blackness, Queerness, and (dis)Abilities. My dissertation proposes Afrofuturist Feminism Principles built on the theoretical foundations of Afrofuturism, Black Feminism, Race & Technology studies, and Human-Computer Interaction to counter biases in technology. The principles will be tested through a series of co-design sessions around topics such as healing justice, gentrification, police brutality, COVID-19, and sex work. The goal of the sessions is to understand how Afrofuturist Feminist principles could mitigate harm at the nexus of these issues and present a series of strategies on how to address these issues in design.

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