In Feburary 2012 I created the blogsite Black Girl Nerds because in the world's largest search engine (that would be Google) I could not find an impression in cyberspace for the term. I stumbled onto a site called Yahoo! Answers and someone asked the question,
"Do black girl nerds exist?"
Seeing that question nearly took my breath away. I could not believe that there were human beings on this planet that were clueless to my existence. It was that very day that BGN was published. I share this tiny anecdote with you, because I have noticed for quite some time now the disparities between blacks and non-blacks within our subculture. As the nerd subculture is slowly evolving into the mainstream with TV shows such as Big Bang Theory, King of The Nerds, Comic Book Men, and now The Nerdist; it begs to ask the question as to why are these shows lacking nerds of color?
Yes, you can argue that those shows have one or two nerds here and there who are non-white, but why is that always the argument? When I got into a Twitter-feud with Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist, over some nonsense about a comment regarding Dr. Who being British; I wanted to know why the new BBC America variety show lacked diversity. Unfortunately the only response I received from Hardwick was a list of three or four people who have appeared on his podcasts to help make up for my question about the absence of color on his program. I am sorry, but three, four, or even five entire black people is still unsettling to me as a black girl nerd.
I was reading a study by Mary Bucholtz, a UC Santa Barbara linguistics professor, who took a tiny demographic of students at Bay City High School in San Francisco and examined the perception of nerdiness and whiteness. She referred to nerds as members of a stigmatized social category who are stereotypically cast as intellectual overachievers or social underachievers. She also stated that there are racial markers to whiteness. For example, there are the whites that are referred to as hillbillies who are deemed as a social underclass in white culture. There are whites that are the cool kids (these are specifically the kids in her study) who embrace both their whiteness and black culture like listening to hip hop music, and then there are the nerds who are considered the epitome of "hyperwhiteness".
Now this is where the discussion gets interesting because although the study is short-sided in some aspects and does not apply generally to all whites, I think the hyperwhiteness argument brings up a valid point about nerd culture. In her study, she found that nerdy teenagers’ deliberate avoidance of slang, for example, displayed their remoteness from the trends not only of white youth culture but of black youth culture as well, since African American slang was a primary source of European American slang. While this was not necessarily an intended consequence, it provides the basis that nerds defined themselves in opposition to both coolness and blackness.
Some would also agree, which Bucholtz also touches on in her study, that coolness stems from black cultural traditions. This explains why cultural memes like music, fashion, and sports in the black community are deracialized by whites. If in fact this "hyperwhiteness" argument has some validity in which nerds choose to distance themselves consciously or subconsciously by speaking Standard English and refusing African American vernacular into their lexicon, then it is evident and clear to interpret why nerdiness is attached to a white hegemonic culture.
Of course I know a ton of nerds of all races (thank you Twitter) who crush every single finding in Bucholtz' study. The idea that our lexicon is ultimately what separates us racially is a pretty poor argument in my opinion. There are nerds who use slang that are non-black that I converse with on Twitter everyday. There are blerds who choose not to use any slang in their vernacular who I converse with everyday. However, the hyperwhiteness ideal still leads me to believe that even whites who choose to embrace black culture feel dismissed by other white nerds.
There is also an unfair disparity between the deracialization of black culture compared to white culture. Bucholtz doesn't expand on this in her study, but I find it interesting that blacks are receptive and welcoming of whites adapting our culture, yet blacks are ostracized by their own community when they choose to adopt or embrace white cultural norms. In turn whites themselves still measure us as "the other" and at times it can come off as dismissive when we see mainstream media images that contain little to no representation of black nerds. Whether or not it is intentional is unknown, but its has become quite clear that black nerds are still an anomaly in our society.
Especially black female nerds. Who apparently don't exist.
Should race even play a role in nerdiness?
Why does this conversation always exclude other racial groups like Hispanics and Asians?
The BGN podcast tonight will discuss this issue of nerdiness being associated with whiteness. I encourage you to tune in and give us your opinion about this hot button topic. Do you agree or disagree?
