Thursday, November 10 at 3:00pm
Freedom Forum Conference Center, Carroll Hall
This lecture began by discussing reformist vs non-reformist reforms. Drawing from Mariama Kaba's work, Nopper noted that some calls for reform are rooted in an understanding of policing as a public good that can be improved, while other reforms better support the ultimate work of abolition.
Within that framework, she discussed data entrepreneurialism and the proliferation of initiatives to better measure crime and make policing more 'efficient' or 'effective.' She also explored how calls for racial justice often come with new demands for policing data--which in turn works to justify policing in new ways.
Tamara K. Nopper is a sociologist, writer, and editor. She is the editor of We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, a book of Mariame Kaba’s writings and interviews (Haymarket Books), researcher and writer of several data stories for Colin Kaepernick’s Abolition for the People series and edited book, and guest editor of the recently published Critical Sociology forum “Race and Money.” Tamara’s research, academic publications, popular pieces, and public educational lectures focus on data literacy, surveillance, the U.S. criminal punishment system, immigrant and minority business capitalization, credit scoring, and the racial wealth gap.
She is a currently an Associate Professor of Sociology at Rhode Island College and Senior Researcher for the Labor Futures Initiative at Data & Society. She is an Affiliate of The Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies and was previously a Fellow at Data for Progress, a member of the inaugural cohort of the NYU Institute for Public Interest Technology, and a 2021-2022 Faculty Fellow at Data & Society as part of a cohort focused on race and technology.