A Reluctant DH Scholar

I have a long-running joke with Meg Smith, the director of our DH Center, that I’m not into DH. I initially thought of it as a conversation, but the way Meg laughs when I say it, it’s somehow become a joke.

I say I’m reluctant mostly because data work and digital design pull me into the field, while my grounding in African American literature sometimes places me at a distance. And some what I witness from some DH communities seems exclusionary with respect to Black people and ideas. Meg counters that I perhaps focus too much on the wrong communities of DH to make my assessments of the overall field. Fair enough.

The other reason my DH ambivalence gets only so far with Meg is because we both know the many projects we’ve worked on together: The Black Panther Digital Project, The Poetry Tracker, The Novel Generator Machine (now The Literary Navigator Device), The Literary Data Gallery, and the overall Black Lit Network. So saying I’m a reluctant DH scholar sounds humorous in light of those projects.

One benefit of my reluctance, though, is that it prompts Meg to answer all kinds of questions and offer multiple alternative examples. It’s a reminder that a certain reluctance or skepticism can be good for intellectual exchange and collaboration, pushing both sides to clarify ideas and sharpen their sense of purpose.

Related:

• Developing the Black Lit Network