Fall 2017  |  COMM 5221 Section 001: Media, Race, and Identity (17388)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Lecture
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
In Person Term Based
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
09/05/2017 - 12/13/2017
Tue, Thu 02:30PM - 03:45PM
UMTC, East Bank
Science Teaching Student Svcs 420A
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
Critical media studies perspective on cultural politics of race and ethnicity. Social construction of race, politics of racism, media representations of race. prereq: 3211 or instr consent
Class Description:
Racial prejudice and institutional racism remain significant problems in the US today. Whatever advances have been made over the years with respect to racial politics, the US remains a nation deeply divided along racial faultlines, and race continues to matter tremendously when it comes to the distribution of education, jobs, housing, healthcare, justice, political power, and then some. One of the most significant arenas where racial politics manifest themselves in US culture is the mass media. We will spend much of the semester studying the ways that this thing we call "race" both shapes and is shaped by a variety of media practices and policies.
In particular, we will examine:
• the social construction of race and racial identity
• the nature of racial identity formation and self­awareness
• the public discourses around racial/ethnic assimilation and integration
• the politics of media representation and invisibility
• the history of interracial cultural borrowing and theft
• the interplay between media and government institutions with respect to maintaining racial hierarchies
• the vexed question of racial ambiguity and hybridity, and
• the variability of racial formations across different geopolitical contexts.

Bear in mind that few (if any) of the questions we'll address this semester have easy answers. If simple solutions were truly effective in eliminating racism, it would have disappeared decades (if not centuries) ago, and there would be no need for courses such as this one. As such, soundbite approaches to these issues (e.g., "can't we all just get along?" or "let's just pretend race doesn't exist") will not serve you well, and a crucial part of your task this semester will be to think critically and complexly about the role of race and media in contemporary society.
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/17388/1179
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
9 October 2015

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