Race, Ethnicity & Television

Catalog description

This course examines race and ethnicity in American television from the 1950s to the present. More specifically, it explores the social, political, historical and institutional contexts that have shaped representations of Asian/Americans, Latino/as, and African Americans on television. By analyzing racial and ethnic images within the development of television, students will gain a deeper understanding of the complex histories that shaped the formation of each ethnic group. While the focus of the course centers on the politics of representation, it moves the discussion beyond the question of stereotypes to explore how concepts such as Orientalism, whiteness, multiculturalism, and post-race contribute to our understanding of racial politics in the United States.