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G104 - Representing Black Women in Popular Culture

September 4, 2008

Exploring Race, Class, and Gender

through a Feminist Lens

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When did slavery begin?

(what you said)y 1920

y 1500s

y 1800s

y Late 1600sy Late 1400s

y 1700s

y 1300s

y 1847

y 1930

y Beginning of time

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What is Race? (what you said)y The Human Race

y Differences between othersy Ethnicity

y Color of skin

y Cultural background

y A system of classification

y A social construction that gives some people advantages, while giving othersdisadvantages.

y African American

y A geological location

y Your origin, where you came from. Your nationality.

y A binding institution or class system used to separate or contain people.y It is said race is not a word, but to others it is a group of people who share the

same ethnicity.

y Used to refer to people according to factors such as skin color/culturalpractices, etc.

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Race, Class, and Gendery Each is socially constructed category that relies upon ´common

senseµ notions of what is normal/natural/right.

y Usually

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Ideologyy Common definition: Ideology can refer to a systematic body of ideas

articulated by a particular group of people· ² e.g., the ideology of theRepublican Party or the Catholic Church

y Negative Ideology:Marxist term used to describe manifestations of 

 bourgeois th

ough

t (a distortion of ́ reality) ² embodies a ́ false consciousness,µto the extent that the oppressed don·t even realize that they are exploited and,in fact, actually work against their self-interests ² Marx saw a clearcorrespondence between the dominance in the socio-economic sphere and theideological

y Stuart Hall·s definition of ideology: ¶the mental frameworks³thelanguages, the concepts, the categories, imagery of thought, and the systems of representations³which different classes and social groups deploy in order tomake sense of, define, figure out, and render intelligible the way society works·

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How Ideology ´Worksµy It defines, but also sets limits

y It figures (renders clear) but it can also obscure

y It includes but also leaves out

y It explains³but for specific reasons

y It expresses and makes links between certain ideas, practices, etc.y It makes certain political positions or social relations (ex.

patriarchy, heterosexuality, capitalism) seem ´naturalµ or´commonsenseµ

y Example: ́ It·sTime for a changeµ campaign ad (2008)

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Hegemony

y Concept derived by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

y Describes the way dominant classes (genders, nations, etc.) maintain their power ² not by (just through) brute force but by achieving legitimacy, winning´consent,µ and making their rule appear commonsense or simply ´the

way things areµ

y Hegemony is maintained (and must be continually maintained: it is an ongoingprocess) by dominant groups and classes ¶negotiating· with, and making concessionsto, subordinate groups and classes· ² hegemony doesn·t imply oppression (although oppression might be present); it depends upon negotiation, stability, consensus

y Popular culture comes to be viewed as the terrain upon which hegemony is securedor contested

y Constant battle between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic forces