Digital debate as anti-Black: examining governing policies through close textual analysis

Abstract

Intercollegiate policy debate (ICPD) has long been regarded as an effective activity to encourage high school and college-aged students to engage in advocacy building and critical thinking skills. In recent years, the activity has experienced rapid changes in its composition and execution of arguments because of COVID-19 and its resulting technological shifts. Within these changes, debaters participated in a restructuring of the activity as the challenges of modern life further implicated the procedures and norms embedded in ICPD. This master’s thesis seeks to investigate the effect of governing policies in such a change by conducting a close textual analysis of the policies themselves to consider the allowances granted to users of the digital debate platforms to enact anti-Black violence against Black debaters. In examining the JW Patterson Debates Audio and Video Recording policy through a close textual analysis, I argue that the policy is persuasive of the online landscape for digital debate and provides opportunities for anti-Black violence against Black debaters.