Kyra Gaunt Ph.D.

I blog, vlog and do collaborative ethnographic research with undergrads about black girls on YouTube. We focus on the #bottomlines of digital self-presentation, participatory culture and the participation gap when adolescent/teen black girls broadcast while they twerk. How can we empower these produsers and educate the YT community about transparency problems, ethical challenges and discrimination that may prevent girls of color from "owning" their bodies/content? How can they protect their present/future net worth in a YouTube community of viral videos still divided by a race, sex, age and gender politic that can "make it rain" or not? #blackgirlsmatter

I work as an ethnomusicologist and digital ethnographer voicing black girlhood studies through music, scholarship and YouTube. Check out my award-winning book The Games Black Girls Play from Double-Dutch to Hip-Hop (2007 Alan Merriam Prize). The work of Michael Wesch inspired my interest in YouTube research.

I tweet @kyraocity.