ABSTRACT

This volume explores and clarifies the complex intersection of race and media in the contemporary United States. Due to the changing dynamics of how racial politics are played out in the contemporary US (as seen with debates of the "post-racial" society), as well as the changing dynamics of the media itself ("new vs. old" media debates), an interrogation of the role of the media and its various institutions within this area of social inquiry is necessary. Contributors contend that race in the United States is dynamic, connected to social, economic, and political structures which are continually altering themselves. The book seeks to highlight the contested space that the media provides for changing dimensions of race, examining the ways that various representations can both hinder or promote positive racial views, considering media in relation to other institutions, and moving beyond thinking of media as a passive and singular institution.

Chapters 3 and 13 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

chapter |12 pages

Introduction

The Contours of Race and Media

part I|43 pages

Structures and Contention

chapter 1|11 pages

Failure to Communicate

The Critical Information Needs Debate

chapter 2|15 pages

Courting Minority Commodity Audiences

Bounce TV in the Age of Media Conglomeration

chapter 3|15 pages

New Media and New Possibilities

The Online Engagement of Young Black Activists

part II|58 pages

Navigating Contention Behind the Scenes

chapter 5|15 pages

Is Carlos Mencia A White Wetback?

Mediating the (E)Racing of U.S. Central Americans in the Latino Imaginary

chapter 6|15 pages

Sofía Vergara

On Media Representations of Latinidad

chapter 7|15 pages

Color-Blind Racism in the Media

Mindy Kaling as an “Honorary White”

part III|47 pages

Visual Representations of Contention

chapter 8|14 pages

Drifting for Whiteness

Hollywood Representations of Asian Americans in the Twenty-First Century

chapter 9|17 pages

Consuming Black Pain

Reading Racial Ideology in Cultural Appetite for 12 Years a Slave

part IV|68 pages

Perpetuating Contentious Ideologies

chapter 12|16 pages

Successful Immigrants in the News

Racialization, Color-Blind Racism, and the American Dream

chapter 13|16 pages

Black Studies in Prime Time

Racial Expertise and the Framing of Cultural Authority

chapter 14|17 pages

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Muslim

Media Representations of “Islamic Punk” through a Postcolonial Lens

chapter |3 pages

Conclusion

Looking Ahead