⚡ New Event: Black Software

Professor Charlton McIlwain's new history of race and the Internet

I think there's always something auspicious about the first book of the year. For me, it was Dark Matters: On The Surveillance of Blackness by Simone Browne, a critical-theoretical exploration that traces the modern surveillance state to the policies and tools once used to monitor and control slaves. It's a dense, jargon-y read, but worth the effort: chock full of references to other authors, media, and even radical art pieces that will change the way you understand surveillance. So I hope that's how 2021 will go. History-burdened, certainly not easy, but ripe with potential if we're willing to do the work. (P.S. Please take 1 minute to fill out our 3-question feedback form. Only 1.5% of our subscribers did so far, so it means a lot to hear what you think.) Last summer, social medi