Black Women's Media Experiences in Britain & the Rise of Brand "Woke-Washing": A Reading List by Dr. Francesca Sobande

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Dr. Francesca Sobande’s teach-in on “Black Women’s Media Experiences & the Rise of Brand “Woke-Washing” is a part of Black Women Radicals’ School For Black Feminist Politics.


On Tuesday, January 26, 2021, Dr. Francesca Sobande led the teach-in, “Black Women's Media Experiences in Britain and the Rise of Brand "Woke-Washing". The teach-in draws on over five years of research related to the digital and media experiences of Black women in Britain. The session addresses how the lives of Black women in Britain are impacted by the specifics of this geo-cultural context, including power dynamics between Britain's constitutive nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).

Focusing on Black women's various media and marketplace encounters, this teach-in also explores the rise of British brands trying to attract Black audiences and tap into discourse on anti-Black racism in opportunistic and surface-level ways. Put briefly, this teach-in considers questions concerning Black women's production of and engagement with media in Britain, as well as issues regarding the rise of "woke-washing" which involves brands attempting to align themselves with social justice positions to pursue profit and protect their brand image. Shaped by Black feminist thought and understandings of racial capitalism, this teach-in tarries with tensions between the communal, counter-cultural, and commercial qualities of the media experiences of Black women in Britain.

About the curator of the teach-in: Dr. Francesca Sobande is a lecturer in digital media studies at the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. She is Course Director of the BA Media, Journalism and Culture programme and is an affiliate of the Data Justice Lab. Francesca's work focuses on digital culture, Black diaspora, feminism, creative work, and the experiences of Black women. She is author of The Digital Lives of Black Women in Britain (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) and is co-editor with Professor Akwugo Emejulu of To Exist is To Resist: Black Feminism in Europe (Pluto Press, 2019). Francesca tweets at @chess_ess and more about her work can be found at francescasobande.com.


Reading List for Black Women’s Media Experiences & the Rise of Brand “Woke-Washing”