PhD Book Club
The PhD Book Club is an interdisciplinary group of PhD students with the shared goal to critically examine the role of technology and media in upholding existing systems of oppression. Every quarter, we select a book and discuss its chapters in combination with critical work by scholars who have been minoritized in conversations in both academic thinking and mainstream media.
We aim to expand the work we read in order to bring critical perspectives into our research work and to create a space for cross-lab and cross-discipline workshopping of related work.
If you are interested in joining, please feel free to reach out to one of the current organizers.
Please note that the group is typically made up of PhD students. However, if you are an undergraduate student, non-PhD graduate student, or independent learner who will commit to the entire reading schedule, please reach out to one of the current organizers.
Current organizers: Jack Bandy (jackbandy [at] u.northwestern.edu), Priyanka Nanayakkara (priyankan [at] u.northwestern.edu), Sohyeon Hwang (sohyeonhwang [at] u.northwestern.edu)
Our wonderful past organizers: Emily Wang
Spring 2021
Spring 2021’s book is Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter by Charlton D. McIlwain.
This quarter, we are meeting every Monday, 2 PM-3 PM CT on Zoom, starting 5 April 2021. If you are interested in joining the Spring 2021 iteration of the book club, please contact Sohyeon Hwang (sohyeonhwang [at] u.northwestern.edu) for the Zoom link with a short self-introduction.
Past Reads
Winter 2021, Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change by Victor Papanek
Fall 2020, Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need by Sasha Costanza-Chock
Summer 2020, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin