Clara Hick

Papers

Total Citations

258

H-Index

About

Clara Hick is a leading scholar at the intersection of critical race theory, science and technology studies (STS), and carceral studies. Her work fundamentally challenges how we understand the relationship between technology and social justice, arguing that seemingly neutral innovations often encode and amplify racial hierarchies. Hick’s most influential contribution, the widely cited 2020 paper “Captivating technology: race, carceral technoscience, and liberatory imagination in everyday life” (258 citations), co-authored with Ruha Benjamin, redefines the concept of “captivating technology”—not as merely engrossing, but as a system that captures and constrains liberatory possibilities, particularly for communities of color. This work has become a cornerstone for scholars examining the racial politics of surveillance, policing, and algorithmic governance. Beyond this landmark paper, Hick is known for their incisive critiques of “carceral technoscience,” exposing how technologies from predictive policing to prison management software entrench mass incarceration. Their research consistently pushes toward a “liberatory imagination,” offering a vital framework for rethinking technology not as an inevitable tool of control, but as a site of resistance and collective world-building. Clara Hick’s work is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the deep entanglements of race, power, and technology in the 21st century.