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Anti-Racism Apps: Models, Approaches and Uses of Mobile Media for Education Against Racism

This project will examine the way in which mobile media platforms and apps are entangled in specific understandings and approaches to racism. A number of 'anti-racism apps' in Australia, the US, France, the UK and Canada are the focus of the research. Using cultural research methodologies such as platform and interface analysis and interviews with developers and users we will critically analyse and assess the user models, approaches to racism and use of mobile media for education and governance to inform future developments in anti-racism interventions and services.

Researchers: Associate Professor Alana Lentin and Dr Justine Humphry

Period: June 2015 – May 2016 (continuing)

A man's hand holding a mobile phone up in the air. On the screen of the phone is a crowd of people in the street.

Project Overview

Racism education and awareness raising, has for some time, been using media to support and deliver campaigns and interventions to prevent and tackle racism. There has been a recent increase in the use of social and mobile media for this purpose, driven and enhanced by the widespread uptake of smart phones that support geo-location, always-on self-tracking and reflexive real-time activities and practices.

This project will examine the way in which mobile media platforms and apps are entangled in specific understandings and approaches to racism. A number of 'anti-racism apps' in Australia, the US, France, the UK and Canada are the focus of the research. Using cultural research methodologies such as platform and interface analysis and interviews with developers and users we will critically analyse and assess the user models, approaches to racism and use of mobile media for education and governance to inform future developments in anti-racism interventions and services.

Apps

If you want to find out more about the organisations and developers behind these apps see the links below:

  • Everyday Racism (opens in a new window)
  • Islamophobia Watch
  • Kick it Out (opens in a new window)
  • CopWatch (opens in a new window)
  • Citoyens Effaçons le racisme
  • 'Appli Contre l'Islamophobie' (Collective Against Islamophobia)
  • Stop and Frisk (opens in a new window)

Publications

Lentin, A & Humphry, J 2016, 'Antiracism apps: framing understandings and approaches to antiracism education and intervention', Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2016.1240824, pp. 1-15.

Media

Lentin, A & Humphry, J 2016, 'How apps and other online tools are challenging racist attacks' (opens in a new window), The Conversation.

Contact

For more information about the project please contact Associate Professor Alana Lentin: a.lentin@westernsydney.edu.au or Dr Justine Humphry: j.humphry@westernsydney.edu.au

This research is supported by the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University and the Digital Humanities Research Group.

Photo: 'Hot Media' (opens in a new window)by Coco Curranski, Flickr Creative Commons License 2.0 (opens in a new window)