ABSTRACT
A representation is a visual, written, or audio depiction of something or someone. This term also refers broadly to what images and texts mean, the meanings that they potentially convey, and how they come to take on those meanings. Differing theoretical understandings of representation and how and why it matters have spurred the development of diverse and at times oppositional threads of media studies in the humanities. This chapter discusses image analysis, an approach to studying representation that examines media images in relation to questions of equity. The field of media representation studies is robust, with sub-disciplines such as Middle Eastern and Islamic media studies and feminist media studies flourishing. The related concepts of ideology and discourse also are useful to understanding representation in relation to linked meanings and social impact. It is helpful to have an understanding of three terms that claim to address contemporary representation but that have been contested by media scholars, post-racialism, postfeminism, and post-queer.
