Black (Cyber)Feminism: Creating Counterpublics in Social Media

Abstract

This case study explores in what ways Black cyberfeminist activism becomes a space of radical intersectional resistance to systemic racial and gender oppression in online spaces. Focusing on grassroots movements and the cultural production of Black women in online spaces, the case reveals how Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube have been reframed as spaces of community-making, political education, and healing. In contrast to perceiving technology as neutral, the case shows how Black women engage critically with and resist technocultures devaluing them. It explains how #SayHerName and #BlackGirlMagic are both rhetorical tools and networked performances of protest, care, and joy. The case also talks about the limitations of conventional digital feminism in whiteness and the erasure of lived experiences of women of color. Drawn from the work of thinkers like Safiya Noble and Moya Bailey, it questions algorithmic bias, digital surveillance, and the commodification of Black expression on the internet. Using storytelling, reflective questions, and critical questions, the case encourages students to think about what equitable, just, and fair digital futures might look like. Ultimately, it asserts that Black cyberfeminism avows an alternative perspective on analyzing power, resistance, and imagination in the age of algorithmic life.