<![CDATA[LifexCode: DH Against Enclosure: Black Beyond Data: A Newsletter of the Black Beyond Data Ecosystem]]>https://lifexcode.substack.com/s/blackbeyonddatahttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!j-iW!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe28781c1-21eb-4bf9-b245-d3306b9903bb_1280x1280.pngLifexCode: DH Against Enclosure: Black Beyond Data: A Newsletter of the Black Beyond Data Ecosystemhttps://lifexcode.substack.com/s/blackbeyonddataSubstackTue, 07 Apr 2026 17:47:23 GMT<![CDATA[RECAP: Black Beyond Data at the CumbreAfro in Puerto Rico]]>https://lifexcode.substack.com/p/recap-black-beyond-data-at-the-cumbreafrohttps://lifexcode.substack.com/p/recap-black-beyond-data-at-the-cumbreafroThu, 26 Mar 2026 18:35:12 GMTThis March, Black Beyond Data joined researchers, artists, activists, students, and teachers from across the African diaspora in Puerto Rico for the Cumbre Internacional de Afrodescendencia (Cumbre Afro), the International Afro-Summit.

Founded by writer and professor Mayra Santos-Febres and hosted at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus for the last five years, this year’s CumbreAfro honored the legendary Afro-Puerto Rican activist and scholar Miriam Jiménez Román.

As reported in El Nuevo Día:

“La cumbre, explicó Santos Febres, también celebra su permanencia en un contexto difícil para la universidad pública. “Estamos celebrando porque hemos sobrevivido hasta ahora en estas condiciones de ataque continuo a la Universidad de Puerto Rico, sobre todo al recinto de Río Piedras”, dijo. “Este es un recinto de pensamiento crítico y de humanidades, y por eso esta cumbre es sobre las humanidades afro”.”

Below, Guesnerth Josué Perea, Executive Director of the Afrolatino Forum, explains the important role humanities, humanism, and Black humanity play in our activism and our research.

Presentations from Eduard Arriaga-Arango, Alexandre White, Jessica Marie Johnson represented Black Beyond Data alongside scholar and researcher, Maria Cruz Soto, who discussed archiving Vieques resistance to U.S. military occupation. Valeria Acevedo, doctoral student at JHU, assisted the panel with interpretation and translation. The panel was moderated by Mariluz Franco Ortiz, scholar and professor and Co-PI of the Centro de Investigación y Archivo Digital en Afrodescendencia (PRAFRO).

Black Beyond Data is honored to have an opportunity to be part of this historic event! Despite travel issues that prevented the Amistad team from joining us in person, Executive Director Kathe Hambrick submitted a video on behalf of the historic research center.

Enjoy the images and short clips of the team presentation and follow LxC on IG (life_x_code) for the latest updates.

Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson:

Dr. Alexandre White:

Dr. Eduard Arriaga-Arango

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]]><![CDATA[Save the Date! Who Owns Black Data III: The Fight for Black Futures]]>https://lifexcode.substack.com/p/save-the-date-who-owns-black-datahttps://lifexcode.substack.com/p/save-the-date-who-owns-black-dataThu, 12 Mar 2026 12:09:40 GMTLET’S GO!!!!! The third Who Owns Black Data is getting ready to roll through the Crescent City!
featured art: Constellation #3// Cosmographs of Belonging Series by Soraya Jean Louis, 2023


Who Owns Black Data III: The Fight for Black Futures is scheduled for May 20th to 22nd, 2026

WOBD III will be hosted by the Amistad Research Center as part of its 60th anniversary festivities. The Amistad Research Center is the nation’s oldest, largest, and most comprehensive independent archives specializing in the history of African Americans and other ethnic, religious, and cultural minorities.

More details soon! Join us!

Who Owns Black Data? (a part of the Black Beyond Data Ecosystem) is a historic series of convenings held at institutions around the country that gather a distinguished group of scholars, librarians, and archivists invested in Black history, humanities and Black life to discuss, elucidate, and provide public answers to the question: who owns and controls the Black historical and cultural record?

We cannot wait to celebrate with the Amistad Research Center!

Learn more about WOBD covenings at wobd.blackbeyonddata.org.

Thank you as always to our Digital Artist-in-Residence for this featured art: Constellation #3// Cosmographs of Belonging Series by Soraya Jean Louis, 2023 (@ancestralalchemyarts on IG)

Thanks for reading LifexCode: DH Against Enclosure! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

]]><![CDATA[Who Owns Black Data at CumbreAfro 2026!!!]]>https://lifexcode.substack.com/p/who-owns-black-data-at-cumbreafrohttps://lifexcode.substack.com/p/who-owns-black-data-at-cumbreafroTue, 10 Mar 2026 18:44:52 GMTWe are tremendously excited to have Who Owns Black Data at La Cumbre Afro 2026!

La Cumbre Internacional de Afrodescendencia es una conferencia internacional del Centro de Investigación y Archivo Digital en Afrodescendencia (Centro PRAFRO) de la Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Río Piedras, financiado por The Andrew Mellon Foundation y liderado por su investigadora principal y directora, la doctora Mayra Santos Febres.

Cumplimos cinco años, y durante este tiempo nuestra Cumbre Afro ha servido como una plataforma digna y merecida para todos nuestros pensadores, generadores de conocimiento, productores de saberes afrocentrados en el Caribe, Afrolatinoamerica y nuestras diásporas. A lo largo de estas cuatro ediciones de la Cumbre, hemos recibido líderes desde Ecuador, Perú, México, República Dominicana, Colombia, Estados Unidos, Cuba, Nigeria, Sudáfrica, las diásporas africanas, el Sur Global y Puerto Rico. You can find out more here!

The WOBD Team will present on Wednesday March 18th!

Panel Title: Ecologas de Datos Negros: Archivo, territorio y redes comunitarias

Kathe Hambrick, Amistad Research Center

Eduard Arriaga, Clark University

Alexandre White, Digitizing Caribbean Archives y Jessica Marie Johnson, Black Beyond Data

We cannot wait to hear about Marie Cruz Soto’s research (Archivo Histórico de Vieques) and be in conversation with our moderator Mariluz Franco Ortiz!!!

Who Owns Black Data? is a convening in the Black Beyond Data ecosystem. Learn more about WOBD at wobd.blackbeyonddata.org.

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