The BCaT Lab

Sustaining a new generation of scholars and scholarship in Black digital studies

The BCaT (Black Communication and Technology) Lab @ the University of Maryland enlivens a new generation of scholars focusing on Black studies and cultural production, digital humanities, and critical race work, creating a prototype for recruiting and sustaining a new generation of scholars in digital studies.

This lab introduces undergraduates to digital research through workshops and coursework, helps students navigate graduate research, and creates a mentoring network for students and faculty to navigate Black digital studies within the humanities, focusing on collaboration across generations. We model a cohort approach that offers support in recruitment, training, and mentoring.

BCaT is a proud part of the DISCO Network. With funding support from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the DISCO Network connects, convenes, and sustains a national network of artists, scholars, and practitioners working on topics of racial inequality, histories of exclusion, disability justice, and techno-ableism, and digital racial politics within the academy, the technology industry, and beyond.