Catherine Knight Steele is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland - College Park and was the Founding Director of the Andrew W. Mellon funded African American Digital Humanities Initiative (AADHum). She now directs the Black Communication and Technology lab as a part of the Digital Inquiry, Speculation, Collaboration, & Optimism Network funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Dr. Steele earned her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Areas of Interest
- Race, Culture and Media
- Digital Black Feminism
- Digital Methods and Ethics
- Digital Humanities Program Development
- Administration and Mentoring
Personal Website
Degrees
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Degree DetailsPh.D. in Communication, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Introduction to Digital Studies in the Arts and Humanities
Media Theory
Mediated Communication
Advanced Historical/Critical Methods in Communication Research: Critical Methods in Media and Digital Research (Reading List available)
Black Discourse and Digital Media (Reading List available)
Media Theory
Mediated Communication
Advanced Historical/Critical Methods in Communication Research: Critical Methods in Media and Digital Research (Reading List available)
Black Discourse and Digital Media (Reading List available)
Her research focuses on race, gender, and media, with a specific emphasis on African American culture and discourse in traditional and new media. She examines representations of marginalized communities in the media and how groups resist oppression and utilize online technology to create spaces of community. Dr. Steele's research on the Black blogosphere, digital discourses of resistance, and digital Black feminism has been published in such journals as Social Media + Society, Information, Communication and Society, and Television and New Media. Her book Digital Black Feminism (NYU Press Fall 2021), examines the relationship between Black women and technology as a centuries-long gendered and racial project in the U.S.
Current Students
Former Students
African American Studies Department
Phone
Email
cksteele [at] umd.edu
Office Hours
Tu/Th: 2:00pm-3:00pm, appointment
