S2E9: Race, Technology and Abolition - A Conversation with Ruha Benjamin

Race is coded into every aspect of our technological lives, from automatic soap dispensers to Zoom calls. In this episode, host Christen Smith sits down with Prof. Ruha Benjamin of Princeton University to her work on racial coding, how racism and technology work hand in hand, and what we can do to create abolitionist futures despite this racism. Ruha Benjamin is Associate Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, author of the award-winning book Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019), and founding director of the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab, which brings together students, activists, artists, and educators to develop a critical and creative approach to data justice. Ruha is also the author of People’s Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (2013) and editor of Captivating Technology: Race, Technology, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life (2019), among numerous other publications. Ruha Benjamin's website: https://www.ruhabenjamin.com Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab: https://www.thejustdatalab.com/about-the-lab