Welcome to Camila’s ratchetdemic blog!

 This blog purpose is to share my experience as a black Brazilian woman from the hood [proudly], but not romanticizing it. Being from the underprivileged neighborhood in Brazil has become part of the construction of my sociological perspectives and studies during my master. It is vital and meaningful to bring my background, how it shapes my sociological perspective of life and social structures, we all are part. Another essential detail and can be one of the reasons “I got lucky”, hacked some of the “social structure” I lived in¹, and I am here studying in Scotland. It had a lot with the fact I am a light-skinned black woman, no matter how well aware of my privileges am I, sometimes I can be “colourism crazy”. I see it everywhere and I talk about it all the time.

Colourism is not something new, and it is around us more than we think, it is part of daily life and social structure. I will talk more about colourism in my posts and how it is related to technology. Also, to understand and give a glimpse of my journey as a master’s student!  I am currently an MSc student in Digital Society at the University of Edinburgh, with a Chevening scholarship.

Chevening is soft power strategy to connect people from emerging countries and have an exchange between emerging countries and the UK. The Chevening program, consist of full fund professionals each year, from more than 160 countries to study masters in the UK, in diverse areas.

About my professional career, I used to work in tech, and I was a person who tried to get in the tech area almost my whole youth until I gave up and happened. I saw the position of executive assistant for six months contract at Microsoft, and I gave my shoot and stayed there for almost three years. I got a promotion to a position of business manager and led the Blacks at Microsoft Brazil, Microsoft’s ethnic/racial diversity pillar for two years.

The idea of constant learning and change is incredible for me, I love tech and the digital world, the interaction andsocial perspectives. How digital and tech shaped society, equally, how society shaped tech and digital. Just think about your daily day, how you interact with people, groceries shop, pay your bills, see your bank balance, get the information, connect with new people. If we think about our lives, digital technologies, media, and mobile technologies are an intrinsic part of our lives. Besides digital technologies and sociology discussions, I am a hip hop lover [I got love for the game²!]!

My goal here is to bring all of that together and make the connection between those subjects. I want to mix my journey in the MSc in Digital Society, sociological perspective, social concepts, blackness, digital world, technology and hip hop. Let’s see what will come out of that!

Just an observation, the word ratchetdemic is not my creation, is something that came while I watched Christopher Emdin’s TEDx about being rachetdemic, a concept of being ratch and academic, at the same time. That both of those personas can live together, as it is part of you, and I related as I am ratchetdemic!

He talks about to be proudly from where he is from and bringing things from those places to the academic world, becoming a rachetdemic!

Check it out.

See you soon!

Camila Ramos a.k.a Ratchetdemic

Notes: 

1 – In 2003, when I finish my high school, only 14% of the population between 18 and 24 were in the university or college, and in the 2000’s was when Brazil reduced the number of Brazilians below the poverty line from 44% to 34% of the population. (Brasil, 2000) 

2 – Dj Jazzy Jeff song about love for hip hop, “For Da Love Of Da Game” from his album The Magnificent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvSq8nix3g8 

 References: 

BRAZIL. Presidência da República. Projeto Alvorada. Brasília, 2000, p.23. http://www.mds.gov.br/relcrys/alvorada/apresentacao.htm