Anti-Racism • Technology • Justice
Erykah Noelle Benson | PhD Student Researcher at the University of Michigan Department of Sociology
Current Research Projects
Black Creatives in the Online Gig Economy
This project explores the experiences of Black creatives who sell original products on online platforms like Etsy, Shopify, and Amazon Handmade. The objective of this project is to study:
Whether/how Black creatives navigate their racial identity in relation to their work.
How Black small business owners navigate the challenges and opportunities they encounter as leaders of platform sites and continue to make significant commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Interested in participating in this study? Fill out this participation form.
This project is supported by:
[Photo by Marques Thomas on Unsplash]
Mapping and Measuring the Digital Food Divide
This project uses survey data from the Detroit Metro Area Communities Study to look at differences in residents' satisfaction with their access to neighborhood resources (such as retail options and transportation) related to their usage of online grocery delivery. The rise of the grocery and food delivery industry has the potential to help people overcome challenges to consistent, convenient, and varied access to food. This project investigates potential inequalities in usage and satisfaction with food/grocery delivery services in three Michigan cities: Ypsilanti, Flint, and Detroit.
This project is supported by:
Racialized Attitudes Toward Reparations
I collaborate as a research fellow with the Detroit Metro Area Communities Study and the Center for Racial Justice to explore Michigan residents' support for reparations for Black Americans. My work on this topic has appeared on multiple platforms, including The Detroit Free Press, Bridge Detroit, and CBS News Detroit.
This work is supported by the Ford School Center for Racial Justice.