maurika smutherman

I am an Assistant Professor of Broadcast Media in the Mass Communication Department at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). I describe myself as a Black feminist media studies scholar who uses critical theory and making to explore the intersections between race, gender, and technology.

My work is guided by the women who came before me–my paternal grandmother, who used every possible opportunity to teach those around her with empathy; my maternal grandmother, whose deep connections to nature and the land inform the way she navigates the world; my mother, whose radical love and boundless creativity taught me how to lead with a Black feminist ethic of care; and my aunts, who showed me how to always remain true to myself no matter the spaces and places I may find myself in. My research is an attempt to make tangible and/or visible the ways Black women and girls produce and engage with technologies under-explored in Western studies of communication and media.

I received my PhD in Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media from North Carolina State University (NCSU). I earned my M.A. in New Media and Global Education from Appalachian State University and my B.A. in mass communications from Winston-Salem State University.