“There's power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice.”
Michelle Obama
SUNDAY
JUNE 28, 2026
INSTRUMENTALIZED IDENTITIES: EXAMINING POWER AND LEGITIMACY IN COMMUNITY ENGAGED RESEARCH
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Annual Conference
American Psychological Association: Division 9 New Orleans, LA
Black individuals face disproportionate online vulnerabilities shaped by structural racism, algorithmic bias, and unequal access to digital education. Research indicates that Black users are more likely to experience targeted harassment, surveillance, doxxing, and coordinated misinformation campaigns across platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X. Dr. Dionne Stephens's presentation draws on interview and survey data from more than 200 Black adults to examine how media literacy shapes online risk. While digital safety is often framed as an individual responsibility, findings reveal that structural gaps in media literacy education play a central role in producing vulnerability. Limited representation in technology policy, educational design, and platform governance further constrains opportunities for culturally grounded risk education. Next steps for community-centered approaches and inclusive curricula to strengthen media literacy, reduce online harm, and empower Black users to navigate digital environments critically and safely are discussed.
SATURDAY
JUNE 27, 2026
LOGGED IN AND LEFT OUT: BLACK DIGITAL VULNERABILITIES IN THE AGE OF ALGORITHMIC RISK
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Annual Conference
American Psychological Association: Division 9 New Orleans, LA
Community-engaged research is frequently framed as collaborative and justice-oriented; however, BIPOC scholars often navigate layered inequities across institutions, professional networks, and the very communities they seek to serve. These inequities include the extraction or “poaching” of ideas and labor without acknowledgment, the instrumentalization of identity for institutional legitimacy, heightened visibility coupled with vulnerability, and community mistrust shaped by historical harm and institutional betrayal. This four paper symposium foregrounds the role of communities in legitimizing and sustaining scholars from their own communities. We examine strategies for empowering community partners to recognize the structural barriers BIPOC scholars face within academic institutions and to actively advocate for equitable authorship, credit, and leadership roles. Ultimately, this session advances a model of graduate training that prepares scholars not only to conduct community-engaged research, but to navigate and transform the inequitable systems in which that research takes place.