France Winddance Twine is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the author and a co-editor of ten books, including Outsourcing the Womb: Race, Class and Gestational Surrogacy in a Global Market and A White Side of Black Britain: Interracial Intimacy and Racial Literacy.
Description
"France Winddance Twine casts a harsh light on the supposed meritocracy of the tech industry, where Black and Latina 'geek girls' confront painful barriers while their white and Asian coworkers leap over them, thanks to elite connections. It's not what you know but whom you know and who you are that largely determines success in Silicon Valley-a massive injustice that stifles innovation and calls for new forms of recognition and solidarity." -- Sharon Zukin, author of The Innovation Complex: Cities, Tech, and the New Economy "The first step in dismantling unjust systems is knowing exactly how they operate. In Geek Girls, France Winddance Twine peels back the screen to illuminate the mechanisms that produce and sustain inequality in Silicon Valley. Through innovative research, this book offers conceptual tools that illuminate the way racism, sexism, classism, and casteism stifle opportunity behind the veil of meritocracy. This book should be read by everyone who is committed to broadening opportunity in our deeply stratified world." -- Ruha Benjamin, author of Race After Technology: Abolitionist Strategies for the New Jim Code "Geek Girls explores intersectionality in women's experiences in technology careers, thinking beyond the careers of white, middle class, Indian, or heterosexual women. Twine highlights the real divide between the experiences of white and Asian women in the industry compared to Black women, including the racial advantages they receive through their relationships with white friends and partners. Geek Girls complicates our understanding of race, gender, and sexuality in Silicon Valley" * Maryann Erigha, author of The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry * "With Professor Twine's sharp eye for detail and compelling testimonials from industry insiders,Geek Girls fully captures what it is like to work as a technically skilled woman in Silicon Valley...is an exceptionally well presented expose of workplace discrimination in the computer and technology industry." * Midwest Book Review * "Geek Girls is a critical, significant sociological work on structural inequality in technology occupations...this book is a must-read for anyone interested in systemic inequality in work and occupations." * Choice * "Twine's book is an important contribution to this canon of work, but it is also original in that it is a thoroughly sociological study ... The book's rigorous scholarship is presented in a highly accessible style, such that we become drawn into the lives and experiences of many of the 'Geek Girls' featured as they attempt to negotiate the 'dominant White world' in which they work." * Ethnic and Racial Studies * "Geek Girls should be on everyone's book list because the injustices described are not going anywhere unless individuals understand where they come from and how they work. Twine tells the story of the nontraditional geek in a comprehensive and thoughtful way that we all would benefit from reading." * Sociology of Race and Ethnicity *