Representation Matters: Envisioning Equity Beyond Visibility

Catalog description

A major museum hires a white curator to steward an African art collection, sparking" fierce" criticism. Institutions from Sotheby?s to the Grammy Awards recruit diversity task teams. Social media feeds are flooded with clickbait headlines like ?13 Queer Superheroes We Need to See? and ?Disney?s Ariel is Black and People are MAD!? Everywhere, debates about equity and inclusion seem to turn on one" idea : Representation matters! But how does representation matter, why does it matter, and how did it come to matter" most ? This interdisciplinary course pushes beyond opposing discourses of ?wokeness? and ?inclusion? to consider the terms, conditions, and limitations of representation as" a political and cultural" framework." Students will follow what representation does and does not do "across contemporary efforts to diversify media, collections, and audiences, "from Disney"films to Big Tech diversity manifestos."We will critically engage with visibility as a remedy for injustice, examine how institutions are (and are not!) changing, "and explore" other" approaches to social transformation." In the process,"we will visit sites like the New York Public Library, consider artworks and films by creators like Candice Lin, Dana Schutz, and The Otolith Group,"read fiction by authors like Zakiya Harris," and draw insights from scholars including Sara Ahmed, Stuart Hall, and Jodi Melamed."Ultimately, we will ask: what does our focus on visibility obscure?