Dreading the diaspora black hair, technology, and the textures of connection Cienna Davis

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Davis, Cienna, author.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania. Communication., degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication.

Black studies.

Epistemology.

Information technology.

0459.

0325.

0489.

0393.

Local Subjects:

Communication.

Black studies.

Epistemology.

Information technology.

0459.

0325.

0489.

0393.

Genre:

Academic theses

Physical Description:

1 online resource (259 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 87-12B

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2026

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Dreading the Diaspora interrogates dominant narratives of technological progress that privilege capital, speed, disembodiment, and machinic efficiency by turning to an alternative technological repertoire rooted in subaltern cultural value systems and feminine creative forms-specifically, Black haircare practices. The dissertation develops a Black Feminist Epistemology of Technology (BFET) to challenge Western assumptions about what counts as "technology" and who is recognized as a technological subject. Drawing on six years of community organizing and cultural work in Berlin, Germany, I argue that Black haircare practices constitute a form of digital technology-not in the computational sense, but in relation to the physical digits, or fingers-through which memory is encoded, knowledge is transmitted, and diasporic relations are sustained.The project addresses two problems: the privileging of platforms and computational systems in digital studies and the emphasis on sound as a dominant counterhegemonic modality in Black diaspora studies. Both frameworks obscure the embodied, relational, and haptic practices through which Black diasporic subjects have long communicated, cared for one another, and built networks that exceed the commercial Internet and sonic traditions. To investigate this problem, I develop DEAP-Digitality, Embodiment, Affect, and Performance-as a methodological framework that integrates digital ethnography, performance ethnography, and critical cultural analysis to examine digitality as something enacted through bodies, gestures, and diasporic cultural practices.Using performance analysis, digital ethnography, and collaborative creative practice, I trace how Black haircare functions as a sacred, connective interface across three domains: artistic and performance works that mobilize Black hair as sensory and political technology; the Digital Natural Black Hair Movement (DNBHM) and its uptake in Germany, where digital visibility economies collide with local racial politics and an informal Black beauty sector; and a collaborative short film, (Digit)al Dread, produced through durational performance, street interviews, and arts based inquiry.Across its chapters, Dreading the Diaspora demonstrates that Black haircare practices illuminate alternative technological repertoires rooted in touch, sacred knowledge, and diasporic creativity that challenge dominant narratives of digital progress. By highlighting haptic, relational, and embodied modes of connection, this dissertation offers new ways of imagining technological life, care, and futurity in an increasingly algorithmically mediated world

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-12, Section: B.

Advisors: Jackson, Sarah J. Committee members: Thomas, Deborah; Jackson, John L.; Banet-Weiser, Sarah

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2026

Vendor supplied data

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798247982746

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license