DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly
2022
Volume 16 Number 3
Volume 16 Number 3
Digital Black Voices: Podcasting and the Black Public Sphere
Bryan M. Jenkins
<bryan_dot_jenkins_at_bison_dot_howard_dot_edu>, Howard University 
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6883-869X
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6883-869XTaryn K. Myers
<tmyers_at_wcupa_dot_edu>, West Chester University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2324-8343
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2324-8343Abstract
Podcasts exist as new form of digital media that is quickly growing in popularity but remains understudied. This study explores Black podcasts’ contributions to the Black public sphere. The study found that Black podcasts are a space in which Black people participate in discourse that seeks to build community and resist against hegemonic structures. This study contributes to Black public sphere research and the digital humanities field by positioning Black podcasts as a counter-public for Black people.
This study builds on the work of scholars – most notably, Dr. Sarah Florini
and Dr. Catherine Knight Steele — who critically examine Black voices in
digital spaces in order to understand how both networked and independent
Black podcasts, a successor of Black radio, shape discourse around a range
of issues and events salient to the Black diaspora. Berry describes
podcasts as a “horizontal media form…producers are consumers, consumers may
become producers, and both can engage in conversations with each other”
[Berry 2006, 144]. Berry argues that podcasts are
not merely a converged medium which incorporates audio, web, and portable
media devices, but podcasts are also a disruptive technology displacing
established assumptions about audience consumption and media production and
distribution.
Using Black public sphere as an analytical tool, this study explores how
podcasting contributes to the Black digital public sphere by answering
questions related to how Black podcasters build community, perpetuate
resistance, and contribute to Black critical debate. The Black Public
Sphere is a significant analytical framework used to identify varying
political positions and interrogate Black voices in digital spaces because
it is a critical site where democratic discourse takes place and emerging
diasporic social movements are envisioned [Black Public Sphere Collective 1995].
Black podcasts symbolize a digital space “in which intellectuals join with
the energies of the street, the school, the church, and the city to
constitute a challenge to the exclusionary violence of much public space in
the United States” [Black Public Sphere Collective 1995, 2–3]. Analyzing
podcasting as a critical media technology that fosters democratic debate
creates an opportunity to observe the importance of Black podcasts to the
field of digital humanities.
Why is podcasting a critical medium? Podcasting is significant to Black
content creators because it is a relatively cost-effective, user-generated
medium with far reaching implications for education, information gathering,
and community building, especially around topics that are salient to Black
communities across the diaspora. Podcasts also serve as a critical archive
for digital humanists because podcasts have the potential to become primary
source documentation that centers the experiences and voices of a range of
Black people – Black podcasters are collectively memorializing significant
moments in Black culture. Historically, Black media have always been
crucial for memorializing and publicizing the Black experience in America –
Black print news, Black magazines, Black radio, and Black television have
been critical in anchoring and fostering support for a range of social
justice movements and for telling stories where Black people and their
lives are centered [Bacon 2003]; [Dankey 2009];
[Fraser 2016]; [Payton and Kvansy 2012].
Therefore, the purpose of this research is to demonstrate the significance of
Black podcasting to both the Black diaspora and the digital humanities
field. Attempting to narrowly define what denotes a Black podcast, and
therefore Blackness, could prove to essentialize a vast and diverse group
of people. In an effort not to do so, this study only seeks to define what
was deemed as a Black podcast for the purposes of this research as opposed
to providing a definitive definition for Black podcasts. For this study, a
Black podcast is one that features a Black host or majority of Black hosts
and centers Black people in the content it produces. Black podcasts have
the potential to disrupt the ways in which mainstream media set the agenda
for the salience of political topics.
This study places Black podcasting within the context of more traditional
forms of Black media. This literature will reveal that key to Black media
are themes of community-building, resistance, and voice. The analysis
conducted on the podcasts included in this study identified topics
prevalent across the podcasts that indicate the different ways in which
these podcasts express the aforementioned themes, adding to the legacy of
Black media in their own unique ways.
Black Media and Representation
In hegemonic societies, the dominant group’s privilege also includes the
advantage of controlling the presentation and dissemination of
information [Squires 2002]. Although access to public
arenas is technically guaranteed to all, “all will
not necessarily be equal within those spaces”
[Squires 2002, 450]. Unfortunately, groups
oppressed by gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, disability, and
class are not able to enjoy the same access to media resources, and
their views and voices are not given the same legitimacy and presence
in discursive activities [Squires 2002, 450]. More
specifically, the oppression of Black people created an economic
disparity and historically, this has impacted Black people’s access to
the necessary capital needed to create and maintain their own media
[Johnson 1993-1994]; [Selman-Earnest 1985].
Squires supports the need for marginalized groups to have separate
spaces to discuss the specific interests of the cultural in-group
without intrusion of the dominant group [Squires 2002].
Though mainstream media are instrumental in communicating ideas, news,
and the prevailing viewpoint, it has not been as dedicated to
providing nuanced analyses of the issues related to marginalized
groups. For marginalized groups, alternative media spaces are part of
a historical tradition that has been important to counterbalancing the
overwhelming silencing of Black voices and life experiences in
traditional media formats [Wilson, Gutiérrez, and Chao 2013]. The cultural
impact of Black mediated spaces, spaces that are occupied and
organized by Black people and support Black centered discourse, draws
its historical connection to Freedom’s
Journal, the first Black newspaper developed in 1827 in
New York City [Bacon 2003]. According to Bacon, this
publication was created as a means to amplify a wider range of Black
voices within public discourse about the positioning and future of
Black people, not only in the United States, but also around the
world. The Freedom Journal proved to be
an important space for Black content creators to publicize the plight
of Black people globally and encourage radical, emancipatory movements
[Bacon 2003]; [Fraser 2016]. This set
the stage for Black people to envision themselves as members of a
larger intra-racial community, which would later be solidified through
technological advances that resulted in Black radio and Black
entertainment television.
Black radio, like its press predecessor, provided a space for Black
people to participate in discourse about their experiences with
oppression, and it created a means for community building around a
shared desire to mitigate their marginalization. Black radio proved to
be integral during the Civil Rights Movement as it was a space where
Black people were able to discuss their discrimination, and sometimes
through coded messaging, Black broadcasters were able to communicate
meeting locations for political demonstrations to their audience [Johnson 1993-1994]; [Williams 2005]. Beyond
the Civil Rights era, Black radio continued to exist as a space to
discuss issues pertaining to Black communities as well as organize and
promote various community events such as panel discussions, debates
and protests held within Black communities [Squires 2002].
Black television stations and programs, while not as abundant as press
and radio largely due to financial constraints, also proved to serve a
similar purpose [Selman-Earnest 1985]. Black TV provided
platforms to hold discourse on race relations and issues within Black
communities. There was an emphasis advocating for the Black
communities they served and promoting various initiatives intended to
empower these communities [Blevins 2020]; [Heitner 2013].
This suggests that Black media is critical for dismantling the
privileging of dominant groups in mainstream media, and this is what
makes Black podcasting a critical medium. Compared to radio[1], an antecedent of the podcast, podcast listening is typically
very intense and interactive [Newman and Gallo 2019]. Podcasts are
participatory culture in that podcast hosts and listeners actively
engage in sharing ideas and knowledge with one another [Yee 2019]. There is radical potential for Black
podcasts to be the idealized communication space of the Black diaspora
– a space meant for democratic debate to contest the marginalization
of Black people globally and share visionary political ideas that have
emancipatory potential [Black Public Sphere Collective 1995]; [Florini 2015]. In this context, Black public sphere is
an ideal analytical tool in which to guide the examination of Black
podcasts.
The Black Public Sphere
Theorist Jürgen Habermas argues that in the late 18th and 19th centuries,
people gathered in what he coined as public spheres, or places frequented
by the bourgeois (pubs, restaurants, opera halls, etc.) to debate and come
to a consensus about political issues of the day [Calhoun 1992]. According to Fraser, the concept of the bourgeois public sphere is
important to the development of theory because it is a place designed to be
critical of the dominant, controlling group [Fraser 1992].
However, Habermas’ original work did not account for the varied voices
within society [Squires 2002]. Though Habermas did attempt to
rearticulate his original concept and eventually posed the idea of multiple
public spheres, he fell short of examining other “nonliberal, nonbourgeois,
competing public spheres” [Fraser 1992, 115]. To address
this gap, a group of Black scholars – The Black Public Sphere Collective –
began conceptualizing a Black public sphere in the mid-1990s. Based on the
work of the Black Public Sphere Collective, this research aims to identify
Black Podcasts as a counter public sphere whose significance lies in its
potential to help construct or disrupt narratives about the Black
experience in America.
While Habermas envisions the public sphere as highbrow, culturally
significant, exclusionary spaces for elites, historically, the Black public
sphere has included such spaces as the Black church, hair salons, barber
shops, community corner stores, and Black-owned and operated publications
[Black Public Sphere Collective 1995]. Advances in technology created the
means for people to connect across the nation and the globe so that the
Black public sphere is no longer confined geographically; instead, Black
people throughout the diaspora across class lines, gender identities, and
age groups have the opportunity to participate in discourse about the past,
present, and future of the diaspora [Collins 2010]; [Squires 2002]. Studies that examine Black-centered public
discourse find that participants feel free to express themselves without
fear of alienating the dominant group. Within these spaces, Black people,
people of color, and allies debate and commiserate about a range of topics
from microaggressions within the work place; police-involved shootings of
unarmed Black people; shared cultural and regional language; and in some
instances, they use these spaces to reclaim and rearticulate Black
collective memories of historical protest groups (such as The Black
Panthers) as a way to create counter-memories that disrupt the dominant
media’s narrative of a post-racial society [Florini 2014a];
[Payton and Kvansy 2012].
Despite the potential of the Black public sphere to be a significant site of
Black discourse, limitations do exist. This is especially true considering
that worldviews and perspectives are also shaped, to some extent, by one’s
experiences related to gender expression, socioeconomic status, disability,
and sexual identity [Hopkinson and Myers 2018]. As Dill and Zambrana
point out, many people within a marginalized group are also situated in
multiple and competing systems of social stratification based on class,
ethnicity, geographic location, and even skin color [Dill and Zambrana 2009]. While The Collective examined physical spaces (barber shops and
churches) and cultural spaces (Hip-Hop music and movies) to examine
Black-centered discourse, since then, other scholars have acknowledged
online spaces as sites of critical Black-centered discourse [Brock 2012]; [Florini 2014b]. The combination
of the educational nature of podcasts along with its capability to foster
resistance raises questions about the medium’s potential to serve as a
critical site of discourse to develop new pathways to Black liberation;
therefore, this study limits its analysis to the following broad themes:
community-building, resistance, and voice.
Background on Podcasting
A podcast is defined as an episodic digital audio file that is consumed from
either streaming on or downloading from a computer, mobile phone, or other
digital device [Newman and Gallo 2019]. Although the term was coined by
Ben Hammersley in 2004, as an amalgamation of Apple’s “iPod” and
“broadcast”, the creation of podcast technology can be traced to
Dave Winer’s development of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) software in
2000 that allowed for the creation of digital feeds that could push audio
content to subscribers [Bottomley 2015]. Podcasting was
largely considered to be niche until 2014 when what is referred to as the
“boom” occurred. This boom is largely credited to the success of the
podcast Serial, which received millions of
downloads in a short period of time and became the first podcast to win a
Peabody award [Berry 2016]; [Bottomley 2015];
[Newman and Gallo 2019]. Yee notes that since 2014, podcasts have
grown from more of a niche hobby for what could be considered the
“average” person to becoming a platform leveraged by media
personalities in order to strengthen their personal brand [Yee 2019]. Podcasts are usually free to listeners and
available for download from a variety of Internet hosting sites [Berry 2006]. Based upon Apple’s listings alone, there are
approximately 770,000 existing podcasts as of 2019 [Newman and Gallo 2019].
Additionally, the ubiquity of podcasts makes it an ideal medium to reach mass
audiences. In 2013, Apple announced its one-billionth podcast subscription
[Zickuhr 2013]. According to research conducted by
Edison Research and Triton Digital survey data, as of 2018, more than half
of Americans over the age of 12 have listened to a podcast at some point,
which is up from 9% in 2008 [Audio and Podcasting Fact Sheet 2019]. Some of the most
popular mainstream podcasts, such as those hosted by National Public Radio
(NPR), boasted more than seven million listeners in 2018 [Audio and Podcasting Fact Sheet 2019]. Podcasting has also become quite lucrative. A
yearly study conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicts that podcast advertising revenue will
reach over one billion dollars by the year 2021 [Audio and Podcasting Fact Sheet 2019].
Unfortunately, it is not clear what percentage of these advertising dollars
will be used to support Black podcasts because there is still very little
data and research available that centers Black podcasts.
Similar to other popular user-generated media such as blogging, podcasts
challenge barriers that limit media ownership and provide a space for
marginalized voices to have a platform. Therefore, it is important to
consider the ways marginalized groups leverage podcasts for social justice,
resistance, education, community, and more. This research is concerned with
the ways Black podcasters use podcasting as a medium to create a
counter-public and the resulting implications for the future of
Black-centered public discourse.
Black Podcasting
Danielle "Berry" Sykes, a Black woman and self-proclaimed lover of podcasts,
launched her website PodcastsInColor.com in March 2015 as a means to catalogue and
memorialize Black and other people of color (POC)-centered podcasts [Berry Syk n.d.]. Sykes recognized the lack of visibility for
marginalized groups’ podcasts on major podcasts lists; leveraging the power
of Black Twitter, Sykes put out a call for Black podcasters to send her
links to their podcasts. What started as a simple database of Black
podcasts has since developed into the most comprehensive list of Black and
other POC podcasts available on the Internet. Though PodcastsInColor.com
does not purport to have a complete list of Black podcasts, it is
significant for demonstrating the breadth of Black podcasts.
According to Florini, Black people use the medium of podcasting as a
counter-public in much the same way that Black people have used public
spaces such as Black barbershops and beauty salons to engage in
Black-centered discourse and to organize and promote social justice
movements [Florini 2015]. In the analysis of the Black online
media network, This Week in Blackness or
TWiB!, Florini notes that Black
podcasters use their shows in addition to other platforms like Twitter to
organize and mobilize political action [Florini 2017].
Apiyo’s [2019] thesis research related to Black podcasting also supports
the significance of Black podcasts in reinforcing cultural identity by
producing specific, targeted content that centers the experiences,
perceptions, and worldviews of the racial in-group [Apiyo 2019].
One important aspect of Black podcasts is the ways in which language serves
as a significant cultural marker. Black podcasters use the medium to talk
about news and information that is not typically covered on mainstream
media, and they do so in a style not used in mainstream media — Black
podcasters tend to embrace the use of African American Vernacular English
(AAVE) [Florini 2015]. “Signifyin’”, another
sociolinguistic marker of the Black racial identity as described by
Florini, is a popular style of banter used by several Black podcasters [Florini 2014b]. Signifyin’ describes the use of humor and
sarcasm within cultural context, and it requires the listener to possess
certain cultural, historical, and political knowledge to understand the
resistance and double-consciousness embedded within the communication
style. The practice of signifyin’, historically, was used by Black
communities as a form of critique against the dominant group. Though
Florini is specifically analyzing communication practices of Black Twitter
users, this sociolinguistic feature can also be applied to Black
podcasters, and this is demonstrated in the way many Black hosts name their
podcasts [Florini 2014b]. As an example, the podcast, The Black Guy Who Tips, is sarcastically named
as a means to resist the stereotype that Black people do not tip their wait
staff in restaurants.
Podcasting, a convergent medium, has served as an important outlet for Black
creatives and content creators — Black podcasters have been able to use
relatively inexpensive digital technologies to build mediated communities,
contest their marginalization, provide a counter-narrative to stereotypes,
and assert a more nuanced perspective on current issues facing Black
communities globally. Similar to social media, podcasts allow for the
masses to navigate around more traditional media gatekeepers to produce
their own content. Also, like social media, podcasts have been proven to
operate as sites of resistance for marginalized groups especially as it
relates to issues with media representation.
Methodology
Podcasts in Color serves as the primary source
of data because it is the largest comprehensive directory of podcasts by
people of color [Berry Syk n.d.]. The website lists hundreds of
Black podcasts on a broad range of topics with hosts from a broad range of
backgrounds. The data set was collected from Podcasts
in Color’s
“2018 Top Podcasts” list which was compiled by
Sykes, the website administrator, and based on host and listener feedback.
The “2018 Top Podcasts” list contains a range of
podcast categories that include comedy, women-hosted, LGBTQIA-hosted, art
and culture, and business. This list yielded an initial population of 100
podcasts. From this list, 20 podcasts were randomly selected to be examined
by both researchers. This meant that each podcast had an equal chance of
being selected for analysis. Random sampling was selected as a means to
generate an unbiased sample of the data population. The appendix contains a
full list of the podcasts included in this study.
Podcasts included within the sample met the following criteria: (1) the
podcast had at least one Black-identified host; (2) the podcast was
included on the Podcasts in Color
“2018 Top Podcasts” list; (3) the podcast
produced an episode within the timeframe of April 1, 2019 to April 1, 2020;
and (4) the podcast was accessible via the Apple podcast application. The
researchers acknowledge that podcasts are accessible through a number of
applications such as Stitcher, SoundCloud, Spotify, and Podmatic; however,
the Apple podcast application tends to be the most widely used to access
podcasts.
After the sample list of Black podcasts was developed, the researchers
selected the most popular episode within the specified timeframe for each
podcast according to ratings available through Apple iTunes as of April 3,
2020. Each researcher independently listened to each of the selected
episodes and identified the most prevalent topics covered on each episode,
along with a short summary of the key points covered under each topic.
While listening to the episodes, the researchers incorporated an audio
analyzing methodology utilized by Lindgren that “involves stopping frequently to take notes about the content”
[Lindgren 2021, 7], and wrote down the timestamps of
quotes that they believed best represented the identified topics. After
independently identifying key topics and points for each episode, the
researchers reconvened to compare observations, organize notes, and
synthesize findings. Show topics included mainstream news stories; pop
culture stories; and personal narratives related to sexism, Black women’s
participation in motor sports, people-pleasing, fashion,
community-building, graphic design, self-care, the 2020 pandemic related to
COVID-19, health, women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship, religion, race,
music, and travel. Through discussion, the researchers synthesized
reoccurring, underlying topics which apply to the broad themes of
community-building, resistance, and voice. The most prevalent topics among
the podcasts selected for analysis were identity, self-definition, Black
visibility, community, and resistance. Specific examples to illustrate the
significance of each topic are analyzed in the following section.
Analysis
In popular Black podcast style, the five topics analyzed are aptly renamed:
We are not a Monolith (identity); I Looked at Myself, and I said,
“Self” (self-definition); Everywhere You Think We Ain’t (Black
visibility); U-N-I-T-Y (community); and Going Against the Grain
(resistance). Keeping in line with the signifyin’ that occurs within Black
podcasts, both in the language used in conversations and the show titles,
the researchers embrace the practice of signifyin’ through the naming of
each topic to emphasize the double-consciousness embedded in Black
discourse.
The first topic, identity, which represents the range of diverse identities
in Black podcasting and summarized in the “We Are Not a Monolith”
section, focuses on the breadth of perspectives based on varying life
experiences related to region, ethnicity, gender expression, sexual
identity and more. The title of the section is significant as, in recent
years, it has become a popular phrase used to recognize the diversity of
Black people. The second topic self-definition, represented by the “I
Look at Myself and said, Self” section describes different
podcasters’ means of self-exploration. The section title is a paraphrase of
a quote from the 2008 Tyler Perry movie Meet the
Browns. Although delivered as a comedic line, the phrase
represents the current push for self-reflection and growth.
The third topic Black visibility or “Everywhere You Think We Ain’t”
addresses the issue of representation, or rather a lack thereof, for Black
people, and this topic highlights the stories and experiences of those who
occupy spaces (hobbies, regions, jobs) where Black people are
under-represented. The fourth topic of community, which represents the
community building that occurs within Black podcasts in the
“U-N-I-T-Y” section, concentrates on the ways that Black
podcasters use their platform as a means to connect with and address issues
within their communities. The section title derives its name from the 1993
Grammy award-winning rap song by mogul Queen Latifah, and this classic rap
song is about creating unity and strengthening the Black community. The
final topic – resistance – is summarized in the “Going Against the
Grain” section. “Going against the grain” is a popular
colloquialism, and within the context of this study, its meaning is more
straightforward as this section describes how Black podcasters debate and
discuss resistance to invisibility and marginalization.
We Are Not a Monolith
The podcasts selected for analysis highlighted a wide variety of perspectives
based on a variety of identities related to gender, sexuality, class, and
nationality. This first topic refers to the intersecting identities
embraced by the podcasts’ hosts rather than the specific content produced
in that there was such a broad range of Black identities represented and
acknowledged. As an example, Jesus and Jollof
is hosted by two Nigerian-American women who incorporate their experiences
of being the children of immigrants into their conversations. One co-host,
Yvonne Orji stated:
If you’re listening and you are a child of immigrants, this is how we adopt people pleasing. We've all been there when your mom is like, “ahh. I have to make a pot of stew for the meeting. I’m so tired I just worked 40 hours. Oh, but if I don’t, if I don’t do it then they’ll say I’m a bad person” [Orji and Ajayi 2020, 8:50].
Within this conversation, the hosts are stating that there are some
experiences and sentiments that are distinct to Black immigrants that
influence their actions and feelings. Orji’s comments suggest that an urge
to please others at the detriment to oneself might be one result of those
experiences.
Florini’s work acknowledged that Black podcasters, likely due to a sense of
comfort stemming from being in a Black mediated space, tend to embrace the
use of AAVE [Florini 2015]. This was found to be the case for
many of the podcasts in this study, however, shows such as Jesus and Jollof, Black
Gals Livin Podcast and I Said What I
Said expand that notion as all of the hosts of the included
podcasts are not African American. The latter two podcasts have hosts that
reside in the United Kingdom and Nigeria, respectively. It would be more
appropriate to say that Black podcasters embrace their own regional
dialects and accents while speaking English that incorporates their varied
identities whether it consists of being American, British, Nigerian, etc.
or a combination of multiple identities.
Podcasts such as Whoreible Decisions, Keep It, HIM. and
Strange Fruit are ones in which the hosts
identify as members of the LGBTQIA community and their content reflects
that experience. On these shows, the hosts often insert perspectives and
experiences that those who are not members of the LGBTQIA community would
likely not share. For example, Strange Fruit
contained a conversation with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi that spoke to how society
views Black LGBTQIA people as inferior to Black, cisgender, heterosexual
people, which impacts their lived experiences. The show, by discussing a
court case in which an employee’s pay was allegedly cut once their employer
found out he was gay, exampled that some of these different experiences
could manifest as workplace discrimination.
Although one’s identity as a marginalized person influences one’s experience
and will often be reflected in conversations, it is important that Black
people are not confined to this narrative. For example, a large part of
HIM.'s episode was a conversation on
dating and the five love languages. It is important that the hosts were
free to have a general conversation on dating without it having to be
specifically about dating as a gay Black man.
These diverse identities are important in that they help to showcase there
are multiple perspectives and experiences that encompass the Black
experience, giving even more credence to the adage that “we are not a
monolith.” These podcasts prove that the Black experience is not
just limited to straight, cisgender, American men. These podcasts highlight
the differing experiences inherent in the Black identity, and this is an
important factor to highlight in Black media. Black podcasts make it much
easier to expose these varied Black experiences to help combat the few and
often negative depictions of Black people in mainstream media [Wilson, Gutiérrez, and Chao 2013].
I Looked at Myself, and I said, “Self”
Common across all the podcasts was a focus on “self” – self-healing,
self-motivation, self-acceptance, self-love, self-employment, and
self-care. Although these can all have very different meanings and
applications, a common topic of the podcasts revolved around motivating
listeners to look inward, reflect and become attuned with one’s needs. Much
of the focus on self was in response to the trauma that structural
oppression places upon Black people. This is especially true for the
messages of self-care, self-love and self-healing. The podcast hosts and
guests recognized that oppression inflicts a severe amount of trauma, both
mental and physical, upon Black people; Black podcasters advocate for their
listeners to take the time to care for themselves. Shelah Marie, the guest
on Dreams in Drive, a podcast focused on
entrepreneurship and hosted by Rana Campbell, provided insights on what led
her to creating a healing space and stated that “women
of color, and especially Black women, are tired of being told about
themselves by people who are not Black. We’re tired of being told how
to heal by people who are not sharing our same journey”
[Campbell 2019, 38:13].
Similarly, the podcasts also recognized that society’s negative depictions of
Black people can sometimes influence one’s own ideas about their Blackness,
which is why self-acceptance was also present. In relation to this, Bose
Ogulu, the guest on I Said What I Said, a
podcast hosted by FK and Jollz, two Black millennial women living in Lagos,
spoke about being fortunate to grow up in a household that taught her about
the harm to global Black populations resulting from apartheid and
colonization. As a result of gaining this understanding at an early age,
she “grew with the realization that I was Black.
African. Umm, that wouldn’t change. So part of being comfortable in
your own skin is accepting and embracing yourself”
[Abudu and Adeyeye 2019, 1:03:03]. The guest goes on to speak about
how part of being able to embrace her Blackness is also tied to her ability
to travel and engage with Black people in different countries and recognize
similarities in culture while understanding that the perceived divisions
among Black people were created by colonizers [Abudu and Adeyeye 2019, 1:03:20].
In addition, some podcasts also pushed forth the idea of self-employment as a
way for Black people to take more control of their own lives and careers.
Both the hosts, Nubia Younge and Frantzces Lys, and guest, Sha’Cannon, on
Chronicles Abroad, a podcast dedicated to
Black women living as expatriates, spoke at length about the need to move
away from working in the traditional corporate America structure because of
the stress it caused. Sha’Cannon spoke about having to deal with poor
leadership, office politics, working extra hours, and various other hurdles
that prevent one being able to enjoy their work. She proclaimed:
You’re just not happy. And then when you finally get a chance to get vacations approved. Did you hear that? You know, I have to ask for what is supposed to be a benefit to me. You know. “Can I go away? Because you’re draining the shit out of me. Can I go recharge?” You know, once you get it approved and you go, you almost can’t enjoy the vacation, because it’s short lived you know… by the time you really are into the vacation it’s over and you’re damn near depressed because you have to do what? Go back to the traffic and corporate America [Younge 2020, 04:16].
In this statement, there is an expression of the levels of stress that can
come along with working for someone else, especially under the corporate
America structure, thus positioning self-employment as a more freeing
option.
Something of importance to note in these examples is that Black podcasts
often encourage Black people to reach out across the diaspora in order to
gain a greater sense of self. This is especially so for the concepts of
self-healing and self-acceptance. Several of these podcasts seem to
recognize the damage that White supremacy has done to Black people and view
the Black diaspora as a restorative resource.
Everywhere You Think We Ain’t
Several of the podcasts focused on increasing visibility of Black, and
sometimes other marginalized groups, in areas that they are normally not
represented. This includes traveling abroad, certain pop culture spaces,
and the graphic designing world. As an example, on the episode of Chronicles Abroad, Nubia exclaimed that:
Chronicles Abroad started because when we were, you know researching, or when I was researching, I didn’t find people that look like us. You know. Or in our age bracket. So that’s how it got started. And then I was so surprised that once I moved abroad, there were so many of us out here [Younge 2020, 02:38].
Nubia’s comments speak to her podcast having an explicit intent to fill a
void in the lack of representation of Black people as international
travelers.
Revision Path is a podcast dedicated to
highlighting Black digital creatives, artists, designers and developers who
normally go unnoticed within mainstream design industries. During the
introduction, the show’s creator explains that the podcast is a, “weekly showcase of the world’s Black graphic designers,
web designers and web developers. Through in-depth interviews you
learn about their work, their goals and what inspires them as creative
individuals”
[Cherry 2020, 00:45]. Although much of the interview
focused on gaining insights on the guest’s experiences and career in
graphic design, it was clear that race was a significant factor in the
guest’s career trajectory — the guest often mentioned the issues he faced
being one of the few Black graphic designers in the industry.
The focus on featuring Black people in spaces where Black people are not
typically visible in mainstream media is evident in a number of other
podcasts. For example, the analyzed episode of Strange
Fruit included a segment that focused on Black women
motorcycle clubs, and the guest on Dreams in
Drive discussed the impetus for launching her self-care
business, noting that there were very few visible women in this space.
U-N-I-T-Y
While the concept of community-building was a broad theme examined in this
study, topics related to community gatherings, community development, and
grassroot organization tended to be a significant topic in most of the
podcasts analyzed. Some of the podcasts focused on discussing different
ways that the Black community could be uplifted; some podcasts commented on
national Black liberation, and others commented on strategies for freedom
specific to Black women and queer communities. Tea
with Queen and J. exemplify this with their “Pay Black Women Segment” in which they promote
the financial support of Black and Indigenous women, cisgender women and
transwomen, as well as non-gender conforming Black and Indigenous people,
by highlighting a person or persons who the listeners should support. By
doing this, the hosts acknowledge that Black people who are not straight,
cisgender men face many more obstacles and forms of oppression and are
often overlooked in society.
Similarly, Malik Little, one of the hosts of HIM., spoke about the efforts he makes to support the Black
queer community by providing food, shelter and funds if needed. The host
voiced:
You know me bitch. If anyone of y’all talm’bout some y’all need a haircut, y’all need food. There have been people who have hit me up through the podcast who’ve asked for food, and bitch their refrigerators have been fulled. And y’all know how I feel about that, and that’s just because of the things that I’ve been through here [Little et al. 2019, 28:45].
What is of importance here is that the host is connecting how the podcast
itself plays a role in supporting their community. He is not only exampling
how he supports those who he personally knows in need, but also those who
solicit help via the podcast.
Additionally, Alex Elle, the host of the hey,
girl podcast, which espouses sisterhood among Black women,
spoke about the importance of building community for self-care. She stated
that, “For me, building community is important for my
self-care, accountability and just for having a support system”
[Elle 2019, 03:10]. This sentiment was also shared on
other podcasts, especially in reference to maintaining one’s sense of self
in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic. Podcast hosts also spoke of
building a stronger podcast community by promoting stronger engagement with
their listeners or other Black podcasts. Many of the podcasts have segments
where they read listener emails or encourage the continuation of the
conversation on social media with the hosts and other listeners.
Going Against the Grain
Ever present within many of the podcasts was a sense of resistance, both
directly and indirectly. All of the prior topics can be viewed as acts of
resistance in their own way and all of the observed episodes held some
resistance to structural oppression to varying degrees. Some shows such as
Tea with Queen and J are direct about it;
in their introduction, they state their intent to dismantle “White supremacist patriarchal capitalism”
[Muhammad and Francis 2020]. While some of the other podcasts might not
state it as blatantly, their actions push against the status quo. For
example, the guest on Chronicles Abroad spoke
at length about self-employment and moving further away from the stress and
constraints that corporate America creates [Younge 2020, 03:15]. Myliek Teele, founder and owner of a popular
subscription service that features Black beauty products, encourages her
show’s listeners to “make sure that you’re putting the
same energy and effort into your personal life as you are into your
professional life”
[Teele 2019, 19:16]. For Black women, who are often
taught to put everyone before their own needs, this serves as a means of
resistance.
As most of the podcast hosts identify as women and/or queer, much of the
conversations also included resistance against sexism, transphobia,
homophobia and other intersecting points of oppression. For example, on
Strange Fruit the hosts’ conversation
with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi discussed how cisgendered, heterosexual Black men
do not make up the entirety of the Black population and to defend Black
people, you must also defend Black women and LGBTQ people. Furthermore, it
was also acknowledged that even though Black women and LGBTQ people often
face the most vitriol within the community, they are also the ones who are
most prominent in organizing for Black liberation. The Black Lives Matter
movement, which is largely lead by Black women and LGBTQ people, was cited
as a significant example [Story and Gardner 2019, 07:00].
Discussion
The primary goal of this study was to identify the significance of Black
podcasts as a counter public sphere meant to construct or disrupt
narratives about the Black experience in America. Using the Black public
sphere as a guide and placing Black podcasting within the context of more
traditional forms of Black media, this research primarily focused on three
broad themes of community-building, resistance, and voice. To distinguish
these themes from the aforementioned topics, the five topics identified in
the analysis represent the most prevalent discussion points covered in the
podcasts. These topics were then used to help explain Black podcasts’
unique contributions to the overarching themes of community-building,
resistance, and voice that are present in the Black media landscape at
large.
Community
Community-building among Black podcasters is a significant theme within this
study, made most evident by the “U-N-I-T-Y” topic. This is not
surprising considering, historically, Black media such as print news, has
been a unifying force for Black communities. This study demonstrates that
podcasters utilize their platforms as a beacon to attract and engage
community members and provide links to resources. In some respects, some
podcasts, such as hey, girl and Black Gals Livin’, promoted the importance of
community building, often discussing how it is important for one’s own
self-care. In this way, the podcasts are essentially stressing the
importance of having a support system, which is something that many
marginalized people might feel they need living in a society founded on
systemic inequality.
Some of the podcasts also promoted engagement with their own listeners,
creating space for feedback through email and social media. Taking into
account that podcasting is considered to be an intimate medium, one could
view this as a way that the hosts are ensuring that their listeners feel
even more included in the conversation. Although the scope of this study
does not include an examination of the podcasts’ social media engagements,
the promotion of continuing the conversation on different platforms allows
for listeners of the show to connect with other listeners, potentially
building a digital community around the podcast. Some of the shows also
mentioned and promoted other Black podcasts and social media accounts,
implying that the hosts recognize the importance of promoting other
marginalized voices. This ideally creates a loose network that helps to
link listeners to other Black resources and communities.
Some of the podcasts also use their platform to support the Black community
outside of the digital space. This is perhaps best noted in Tea with Queen and J. and HIM. In the former, the hosts have a segment dedicated to
financially supporting Black people who do not identify as cisgender males
because they recognize how they are disproportionally disparaged in society
and may be in need of extra financial assistance. The requests made in this
segment can range from asking for support of a business, organization or
initiative to sending money so that a particular individual can buy food.
Although it is not an official segment of HIM., one of the hosts did speak about how he responds to requests
made by the podcast listeners for food or financial assistance. In these
varying ways, Black podcasts have a tendency to be community-oriented and
are using their platforms to support the Black community, especially those
whose life experiences are negatively impacted by multiple and intersecting
systems of oppression. Black podcasters may also view their podcasts as a
way to digitally connect different parts of the community that may be
geographically separated.
Resistant
Historically, traditional forms of media have not been representative of
Black people both in terms of quantity and quality, which results in the
perpetuation of Black stereotypes. Black media have been critical for
resisting these stereotypes by providing counter-narratives of the Black
experience. The second theme, resistance, shows up in a number of ways in
Black discourse via Black podcasting, and this is primarily done by the
increased representation of diverse Black voices and worldviews.
The topics “We Are Not a Monolith” and “Everywhere You Think We
Ain’t” demonstrate that Black podcasts are pushing against dominant
narratives of Black people, which limits them to being categorized as one
of a few different stereotypes, by showcasing just how varied our voices
are. The hosts were experienced and engaged in a range of different topics
and areas including, but not limited to sex, pop culture, graphic design,
nutrition, traveling abroad, entrepreneurship, and the music industry.
Simply placing Black voices in these spaces is an act of resistance against
the false perception that Black people are not present there or capable of
holding knowledge on a multitude of topics.
Furthermore, most of the hosts did not identify as straight, cisgender men,
who are the dominant group within a patriarchal society. To the same effect
that increasing the visibility of Black voices in media is a form of
resistance against racial oppression, incorporating the voices,
perspectives and lived experiences of people with intersecting,
marginalized identities is an act of resistance against misogyny,
homophobia, xenophobia, etc. Oppression in the form of racism has severely
narrowed the representation of the Black experience in media, and Black
podcasts are contributing to broadening that perspective.
The poor representations of Black people in media can have a negative effect
on how Black people view themselves. Therefore, ideas of self-love and
self-acceptance as described in the “I Look at Myself and Said, Self”
section suggests that self-reflection and self-definition can also be
considered a radical form of resistance. Accepting and loving one’s own
Blackness leads to accepting others’ definition of Blackness and has the
potential to promote community building.
Aside from self-definition as a form of resistance, some of the podcasts were
much more straightforward in their notion of resistance and used their
platform to lambaste White supremacist patriarchal capitalism. While the
hosts of Tea with Queen and J. are the only
Black podcasters (within this study) to explicitly state this as the
purpose of their podcast, many others shared similar sentiments. At various
points during the episodes analyzed, the hosts would critique capitalism,
racism, sexism and homophobia. Sometimes the criticism was indirect, as was
the case in Chronicles Abroad where the hosts
and guest made several comments speaking to how flawed and stressful the
structure of corporate America is. Other times it might present as a
blatant statement such as the one made by one host of the HIM. podcast, “We’re all
living in this capitalist bullshit society”
[Little et al. 2019, 27:55]. In Jesus and
Jollof, one of the hosts made a reference to how men often use
the term “crazy” to reduce and define women who make demands that the man
is incapable of fulfilling [Orji and Ajayi 2020, 13:48]. As this
analysis suggests, resistance for Black podcasters has different meanings
and different potentiality; however, it is clear that for Black podcasters,
the concept of resistance is both meaningful and significant, which
historically, has always been a primary mission of Black media.
Voice
The third theme examined in this study focused on the diversity of voice
within the Black public sphere. For this study, voice describes more than
just the sonic representation of Blackness (though that is significant as
well); voice also describes the perspective, attitude, and opinion of
different Black people whose life experiences have been shaped by the
region where they live or grew up, their socioeconomic class, their sexual
identity, their gender, and to some extent a shared history of slavery.
Black podcasts expand the Black public sphere, increasing the number of
voices that participate in it, therefore making it more representative of
the diversity of Black communities globally.
Perhaps, what is the most unique about Black podcasts is the medium itself.
As the literature uncovered, podcasting as a digital medium is widely
accessible and creates an avenue for individuals to navigate around
traditional media gatekeepers [Florini 2015]; [Steele 2018]. This generates an opportunity for more Black
people to build an online platform and share it widely; including those who
might not have access to own and/or participate in more traditional media
formats as a result of barriers related to class, gender, sexual identity,
disability, and various other factors.
Beyond helping to remove media gatekeepers and financial barriers, Black
podcasting as a digital medium also help to remove geographical barriers,
which adds to the diversity of voice. With the help of digital technology,
listeners can access shows hosted by Black people throughout the diaspora.
While Black newspapers and Black radio were often limited in their reach,
Black podcasts can attract Black listeners from nearly anywhere in the
world. Nigerian podcast shows such as I Said What I
Said have the potential to expand their listener base to
Americans; conversely, Nigerian listeners can also access Black American
podcasts such as Dreams in Drive – this is how
cross-cultural interactions happen. Therefore, public discourse that may
once have been locally confined can now invite a wider range of voices and
people to participate globally. Whether physical or intangible, the
barriers that podcasts remove allow for more Black people of varying
identities and experiences to participate in public discourse with each
other.
While scholars such as Thakur argue that the digital landscape creates too
many voices, making it difficult to have one single agenda, it is important
that Black people are recognized as a diverse group [Thakur 2020]. As a diverse group of people, Black
communities will have different interests and needs. The “We Are Not a
Monolith” and “Everywhere You Think We Ain’t” topics provide
examples of the variety of Blackness from identities to geographic
locations to hobbies and career interests. Furthermore, the
“U-N-I-T-Y” topic shows that, even among all of these varying
voices, there still exists a unifying desire to uplift all Black people.
Black podcasts recognize that efforts aimed at supporting the unique needs
of different Black communities do not have to be at odds with each other
and can serve to uplift Black people as a whole. Black podcasting
highlights the diversity of Black critical debate and it offers a space for
the development of cross-cultural interactions.
Conclusion
Using a sample of 20 podcasts, this study demonstrates the significant
contributions Black podcasts have made to the Black public sphere. Despite
podcasting’s major contributions to Black representation, Black media
production, Black resistance, and Black community building, this study
focuses on a small sample of Black podcasts, therefore, some limitations do
exist. Considering the breadth of platforms available to create and listen
to podcasts and the fact that there is not an all-inclusive database,
several podcasts were not included in the data population. Future research
should compile a more comprehensive list of Black podcasts and analyze a
larger sample. Additionally, this research explores Black podcast
commentary but does not focus on audience engagement. Future research
should also consider examining audience engagement to determine how Black
podcasting shapes audience perceptions about topics salient to the Black
community. Finally, research demonstrates that not all Black voices and
experiences are represented equally within the Black public sphere,
therefore, future research should take a more intentionally intersectional
approach to exploring Black podcasts to ensure that women, LGBTQIA,
disabled and other marginalized voices across the Black diaspora are
included.
Appendix
Podcasts included in the study
| Podcast | Episode Title | Episode Date | Number of Hosts | Guests | Apple Category |
| Time Well Spent | Episode 22 - The Appeal | 02/28/2020 | 1 | 1 | Society and Culture |
| Network and Spill | #The Spill Speaking Up + Using Your Voice w/ Speech Pathologist Corinne Zmoos | 03/19/2020 | 1 | 1 | Entrepreneurship |
| Black Gals Livin Podcast | 79 I got the Coronavirus | 03/29/2020 | 2 | 0 | Society and Culture |
| Hey, Girl | Mini Update: Alex's Personal Self-Care Tips | 05/31/2019 | 1 | 0 | Personal Journals |
| HIM. | Episode 086: Give + Take | 11/27/2019 | 4 | 0 | Relationships |
| Keep It | Queenpin | 04/01/2020 | 3 | 2 | Society and Culture |
| Jesus and Jollof | People Pleasing | 03/20/2020 | 2 | 0 | Society and Culture |
| Unofficial Expert | “The Hoodrat Expert” with Alex English | 12/06/2019 | 2 | 1 | Comedy |
| Strange Fruit | You Might not be Racist, But Are You Anti Racist? | 11/26/2019 | 2 | 2 | Philosophy |
| Purple Panties | She Keeps Me Warm | 04/17/2019 | 8 | 0 | Performing Arts |
| Tea With Queen and J | #245 Maybe Just Log Off | 03/31/2020 | 2 | 0 | Society and Culture |
| Whoreible Decisions | Ep 160: Boundaries and Virtual Sex Orgies Feat Miss Cory B | 03/30/2020 | 2 | 1 | Comedy |
| I Said What I Said | ISWIS S2EP01 | 11/05/2019 | 2 | 1 | Society and Culture |
| Chronicles Abroad | Episode 144 | 01/01/2020 | 2 | 1 | Places and Travel |
| Dreams in Drive | 223: How to Accept Yourself | 10/28/2019 | 1 | 1 | Entrepreneurship |
| Revision Path | Anthony Harrison | 01/06/2020 | 1 | 1 | Design |
| Myleik Teele's Podcast | Lessons from the Last Decade | 12/12/2019 | 1 | 0 | Careers |
| The Come Up Show | The Future of Sharing and Discovery | 06/05/2019 | 1 | 4 | Music |
| Food Heaven (Show) Podcast | How to Stay Nourished in Times of Chaos | 03/25/2020 | 2 | 0 | Nutrition |
| The Right Time with Bomani Jones | Pass the Sticks | 03/31/2020 | 1 | 1 | Sports |
Table 1.
Notes
[1] In a
1956 article published by Harper’s Bazaar,
Alex Haley and Albert Abarbenel attempt to demonstrate the
significance of Black consumers by focusing on “Negro” radio
which served a critical function in the Black community by
featuring a range of topics including the achievements of local
prominent Blacks and alerting listeners who lived in violently
segregated communities where it was safe to shop [Newman 2000]. Black radio drew particular interest
at this time because advertisers were beginning to understand the
economic significance of targeting Black audiences, and this
opened the door for increased advertising and revenue for Black
radio [Chambers 2008]. However, with the passing of
ownership deregulations sponsored by Reagan and Bush
administrations, Black radio, especially in smaller markets,
suffered dramatically as demonstrated by decreasing advertising
revenue and Black radio ownership [Scott 1993].
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Comments: dhqinfo@digitalhumanities.org
Published by: The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations and The Association for Computers and the Humanities
Affiliated with: Digital Scholarship in the Humanities
DHQ has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Copyright © 2005 -
Unless otherwise noted, the DHQ web site and all DHQ published content are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Individual articles may carry a more permissive license, as described in the footer for the individual article, and in the article’s metadata.
