How Do You Define Someone as a Black Nerd?

Issa Rae, producer, writer, director, and creator of the webseries “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” which won a Shorty Award for Best Web Series explained the different between awkwardness and nerdiness. “Awkwardness is more universal–everyone experiences a sense of social discomfort, whereas nerdiness is very much associated with intellectual pursuits. Awkwardness is something that you can turn off, whereas nerdiness is just kind-of who you are.”

Black Girl Nerd (BGN) lists different types of nerds. BGN names the Recluse, the Fashionista, the Bookworm, the Soul Sista, and the Feminist.

When asked what makes someone a black nerd, you’ll receive myriad answers. There are certain characteristics that you’ll commonly hear in response to the question, though, like “intelligence” and “unconventionality.”

Although the terms are often used interchangeable, ‘geek’ and ‘nerd’ have different meanings. In general, a nerd is anyone who enjoys and pursues intellectual challenges–they’re the folks who are all-around super smart, and if they don’t know it they want to learn it. A geek has the connotation that one zealously studies a particular topic: You can be a comic book geek; a hip hop geek; a fashion geek, etc. But being a geek about a topic doesn’t automatically make you a nerd–you have to be all-around intelligent to get the nerd title.

Jason Triche: “I would venture to say that those who we call “great” and “successful” at their respective disciplines would be the nerds of their arena – and they could careless about what another thinks of their image. They are not trying to be cool; they are cool because of what they know and how they express that knowledge.”