ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the role of popular culture in perpetuating racial ideologies as well as in increasing group solidarity. Race in the cultural imagination is explored through the lens of cultural hegemony, with attention given to resistance and counterhegemonic messages in popular culture created by racial/ethnic minorities. Much of the chapter focuses on the images of racial/ethnic minorities in television, film, and video games. The chapter concludes with a look at the role of power in constructing public history (monuments, historical markers, etc.) and the significance of these for the creation of collective memory.
