Three new faculty books from the 天美影视传媒 cover topics ranging from children鈥檚 use of technology to the life experiences of Black women to neuroscience and brain research. UW News talked with the authors to learn more.

Guiding healthy interactions between children and technology

Technology plays a fundamental role in nearly every aspect of our lives, but finding ways to guide healthy usage of technology among young minds remains a tumultuous process.

In 鈥�,鈥� , associate professor in the UW Information School, explains how technology affects children in the various stages of their childhood. Published in March by MIT Press, the book provides parents and teachers with ideas to help kids navigate the digital world in a healthy way.

鈥淚’ve been researching technology鈥檚 role in child development for almost 20 years now, and throughout that time I have repeatedly gotten questions like, 鈥業s technology good or bad for my kid?鈥欌�� Davis said. 鈥淪o I really wanted to take this complicated landscape of research that has accumulated over the last couple of decades and make sense of it in a way that could offer something concrete for parents, teachers and policymakers, and even for technology designers and researchers.

鈥淭he goal here is to offer a concrete framework for making sense of what we know about the interaction between technology design and child development that will guide good decisions on these different levels.鈥�

Using her experiences as a researcher, parent, teacher and older sister, Davis highlights the difficulties in identifying a clear approach to dealing with technology and children.

鈥淲e have accumulated quite a bit of research over the last couple of decades. It doesn’t point to one clear answer,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭hat’s partly because technologies are different. But also children are very different, and their circumstances are very different. A one-size-fits-all approach really doesn’t work when we’re talking about kids and technology.鈥�

In the book, Davis introduces the idea of the 鈥済ood enough digital parent,鈥� updating the mid-twentieth century theory of the 鈥済ood enough mother鈥� to fit the modern world.

鈥淭he good enough digital parent is trying to do their best,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淭hey’re trying to steer their children towards self-directed, community supported digital experiences, but with the recognition that they’re not going to be perfect all the time. It’s the idea that, with your child, you’re both developing and figuring this out together, making mistakes and adjusting along the way, and then also importantly recognizing that these are challenging things to deal with.鈥�

Davis concludes that some of the onus must be taken off the family unit and placed back on industry and government regulation. It鈥檚 important, she said, to think of ways in which the different levels of society can pitch in and help solve these challenges.

For more information, contact Davis at kdavis78@uw.edu.

Emotion, creativity and knowledge intertwine in 鈥楩eelin鈥�

Early in her new book exploring the art, emotion and life experiences of Black women, makes clear the title, 鈥淔eelin,鈥� is intentional, to be written, uttered and understood exactly as is.

鈥淚’m grounding it in the cultural space of African American language and knowledge production. The context in which the word feelin would be used — I’m feelin that, I’m not feelin that, you feel me — that marks knowledge, a kind of complete understanding of something,鈥� says Judd, an associate professor of gender, women and sexuality studies. 鈥淚 consider the word whole in its own right, and to use an apostrophe would mark where something is missing. To take seriously the cultural meanings of the term, the language from which it comes from, I’m no longer using the standard English reference. I’m using the cultural term.鈥�

Published by Northwestern University Press, 鈥溾�� is a book that, like the very meaning of the title, Judd wants the reader to experience. Each chapter delves into an issue, idea or perspective through the lens of creative works.

A chapter on song as ecstatic practice delves into the music of a series of vocalists and in particular, of Aretha Franklin and Avery*Sunshine. Another chapter confronts the stereotype of the angry Black woman, and the emotion of anger, through Nina Simone鈥檚 song 鈥淢ississippi Goddam鈥� (and the backlash she faced for it), and Judd鈥檚 own poetry and haunting video reflecting on Sandra Bland, who died in police custody after a 2015 traffic stop in Texas.

That video is just one of many works Judd invites the reader to view, listen to or read by scanning QR codes scattered throughout the book. But they鈥檙e not meant to be supplementary, like the CD-ROMS that used to be tucked inside covers, Judd says. 鈥淚 think of it as a part of the experience of the book. It’s not bonus material. It IS the material.鈥�

Judd sees 鈥淔eelin鈥� as a coalescing of ideas over time.

鈥淚t was understanding the depth of how these Black women artists, writers and musicians were calling on people to detach themselves from this idea that valuable knowledge is non-emotional and exists only in the realm of what one set of people thinks is rational, and that desire to remove us from knowledge that is felt is another way of discounting our stories, another way of discounting our experience,鈥� Judd said.

And the cover art? Judd鈥檚 own, a mixed media piece called 鈥淔ollowing the Bright Back of the Woman.鈥�

For more information, contact Judd at bjudd@uw.edu.

Look inside your brain with 鈥楴europedia鈥�

Neuroscience and brain research is a vast and deeply complicated field. A new book by , research associate professor in the UW Department of Bioengineering and executive director of the UW , is written specifically to take a public audience inside the fascinating world of the brain.

鈥攑ublished by Princeton University Press as part of their Pedia series and illustrated by Chudler鈥檚 daughter, Kelly Chudler 鈥� explores the mysteries of the brain and offers a peek behind the curtain of what really goes on inside our heads.

鈥淭his kind of book is more for the general public. It鈥檚 not supposed to be a textbook,鈥� Chudler said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the many ways that I can communicate neuroscience and brain research to the public.鈥�

Chudler hopes the book will help audiences develop a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of the brain and the field of neuroscience.

鈥淭here are many misconceptions, what we call neuro-myths, about the brain,鈥� Chudler said. 鈥淪o, I鈥檇 like people to get a basic understanding of the structure and function of the nervous system and some of the controversies involved. I hope that people will be able to appreciate and even empathize with people who are affected by diseases of the nervous system.鈥�

Neurological and psychiatric diseases are a part of human life, and Chudler wants to help combat some of the negative beliefs associated with these diseases.

鈥淚 hope that people can better understand what鈥檚 going on with friends and family,鈥� Chudler said, 鈥渁nd maybe even reduce stigma attached to neurological and mental disorders and perhaps even help people affected by these conditions.鈥�

Written like an encyclopedia of all things neurological, the book functions like an extended glossary with entries from A-Z.

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 have to read it from cover to cover. They can just flip through and read the short three or four paragraphs for each entry,鈥� Chudler said. 鈥淏ecause each entry is short, you can鈥檛 get into too much depth. I hope people will read a particular entry and want to learn more and do some of their own research, because an entire book can be written about each entry.鈥�

The book also includes references, illustrations and resources for those who want to learn more about various topics like Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and even the neurological effects of COVID.

鈥淭hey鈥檒l be provided with a basic understanding of how the nervous system works, some of the limitations of our understanding of the brain, the current state of research and maybe learn some facts or figures for the next time they鈥檙e on Jeopardy or at a trivia night,鈥� Chudler said.

For more information, contact Chudler at chudler@uw.edu.

Judd, a UW associate professor of gender, women and sexuality studies, notes that while the overturning of Roe v. Wade is the latest in continual government efforts to control reproduction, there is a legacy of resistance to those efforts. Reproductive justice addresses not just the choice to end a pregnancy, but also the choice to raise a child, and to be able to do so in communities that are safe, with access to basic needs like food, water, shelter and health care.

This ruling comes on the heels of tragedies that exemplify these very issues, she said.

鈥淲e are in a moment where we’re kind of reeling from the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and that’s a reproductive justice issue: to be able to raise your children and not be in fear of a mass shooter while they’re at school, or while you’re at the grocery store, as in the case in Buffalo, or while you’re at church, as in the case of Charleston,鈥� Judd said. 鈥淭here is an expansive set of ideas of reproductive justice that bends toward justice, and not just toward the legal discourse around rights.鈥�

Judd, who has focused much of her research on the history of gynecology and of medical racism more broadly, spoke with UW News about the significance of the Supreme Court ruling and its potential impacts.

Where, and to whom, will this ruling have the most serious impacts?

There are states that have trigger laws to, in effect, not only ban but criminalize abortion and the assisting of someone seeking an abortion. A lot of those states are predominantly in the Midwest and the South, but they’re also in this part of the country, where states like Washington, which border states with such laws, will be affected. We will be needing to offer this form of health care for folks essentially fleeing and crossing borders to get it. There are regions of the country that are already impacted, where people have to take a trip to another county or state very far from home in order to get this care, and that’s before this ruling landed. Then we’ll also see pressure on the resources that are available. In states that have laws on the books to ensure the right to an abortion, there will be funding issues, and clinics that provide this form of health care will be laden with a lot of work to do.

Laws like this affect poor women, women of color, women who are immigrants or who are under surveillance by the carceral state — those who are, in general, just a little more vulnerable to the state. These are folks who are in rural communities and urban communities alike. And we’ve known this, because these are precisely the folks who have had problems accessing reproductive health care before this ruling was brought down.

How does this ruling relate to some of the issues you study, namely medical racism and violence?

I think that there is a through line, and I talk about them as legacies because they still impact health care and reproductive care today. I’m thinking about the recent comments by Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who said that if you don’t count Black women, then maternal mortality rates are actually not a problem. The fact that we have much higher maternal and infant mortality death rates in this country is astounding; it shows us that we, in fact, do not have the best health care system. What we know about maternal mortality rates in Black women is that it is largely due to the kind of care they’re provided. And it’s across class. You can have the best insurance, you can have the deepest pockets, and still be at risk of really fatal consequences due to being pregnant. One of the kinds of dystopic, terrible things about this ruling and its relationship to that, is that in a country where Black women are far more likely to die during childbirth, to force folks toward childbirth also seems like a death plan. I don’t think of it as happenstance that that is the idea, because there is this sense that Black reproductive lives matter less, that this nation would somehow be better off if Black women stopped having children.

That is related to this longer legacy of reproduction and the origins of gynecology, because in the era of slavery, Black woman’s reproduction was necessary under a form of capitalism that relied on Black bodies as material possessions, as literal capital. We see after emancipation, during Reconstruction and well into the 20^th century, a turn from making sure that Black women have children, to saying Black folks are a problem because they are prone to disease, they are a burden on society. We see this in the legacy of eugenics, and in the infamous , which blames the Black plight of poverty on Black women. We see this kind of longer history related to an overarching concern with Black reproduction.

What do you think gets overlooked about these issues?

One of the things we know about folks who want access to abortion care is that their decision to do so is because they cannot afford a child, and that most people who access abortion care already have children. Concurrent with stripping access to abortion is also the stripping of what folks on the right are calling entitlements 鈥� food stamps, even WIC, the nutrition program for women, infants and children. Without access to the means of supporting and sustaining healthy children, that exacerbates poverty in communities that are already at risk because of a lack of basic resources like food and clean water. These are the communities that are policed heavily, that have schools classified as failing, where there is a link between getting in trouble at school and having your behavior marked as troublesome, and then being put into a pipeline toward juvenile delinquency and into prisons. The pipeline itself, the failing schools, the access to food and clean water, are reproductive justice issues. Knowing that one is not ready to have a child is not only a deeply personal decision, but also political in that we have created a society that makes it a Herculean feat to be ready, if you are poor and of color.

At the beginning of all this is a person who says, I am not ready to have a child. To exacerbate that condition by forcing that person to have children is to bloat a system that’s already very much interested in putting more poor Black and brown children in its maw.

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What comes next for people who support reproductive justice?

States where abortions are legal will have to carry the load. Abortion funds help those who need access to care, who need to be able to travel to get an abortion, who need a place to stay while they’re getting health care. Marching and protesting is also wonderful because it allows you to recognize that you are not alone in feeling disgruntled and helpless, but helplessness is not the end of this. There are people who have been doing this work, who continue to do this work, so you can join up with them.

These people have been preparing for this moment for decades, since just a few years after Roe v. Wade with the . Folks on the ground have been activated and ready. It’s going to take a lot of folks to get on board and understand the kind of long game that’s been played, and what folks who have been active are continuing to do now. We’re not just thinking about what the Supreme Court might deem our rights and what local courts might deem our rights, but what is just. The folks who I know who are doing this work are committed to doing what’s just.

For more information, contact Judd at bjudd@uw.edu.