This week’s reading for Digital Humanities was the hardest I’ve had since starting my MA. Not because the articles were tough or there were too many of them. Instead it was the topic I struggled with.
The topic? Challenges and controversies within DH, including inclusion and accessibility. As a “white, middle-class girl” who grew up in a “white town” and studied in a predominantly “white city”, I’ve never had to face up to issues of inclusion, even as a woman.
When I read “All the Digital Humanists Are White, All the Nerds Are Men, but Some of Us Are Brave” by Moya Bailey1, I realised how sheltered I was. For example, Dr Carla Stokes’ work on Black girls developing identity through online platforms is not considered to be Digital Humanities even though it falls within the discipline’s characteristics. The implication from the article that this is due to Stokes focusing on a minority, but I wonder if it is also because she belongs to a minority.
1. [Bailey, Moya Z. “All the Digital Humanists Are White, All the Nerds Are Men, but Some of Us Are Brave.” Journal of Digital Humanities 1.1 (2011).]↩
