Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0172 - Commodities of Desire

How does popular culture reproduce gendered identities and racialized difference(s)? By critically investigating racial stereotypes and hetero-sexist conventions within the varied field of popular culture (images, texts, and sounds), we can begin to understand and analyze how race and sexuality structure our desires and code our cultures. This course will employ Cultural Studies and Women's Studies to examine how the themes of exotification, hybridity, authenticity, cultural appropriation, essentialism, and liberal humanism circulate within the popular imaginary. In the process, we will consider the following questions: Can the consumption of popular culture be more ethical and active? What are the politics of production and consumption in an age of communication overload? What is resistance? Where is it located? How much agency does a consumer actually have? How responsible is the producer for his/her productions? Can gendered and raced commodities be used to explore difference? Or will their consumption lead to the reinforcement of sexist, racist, and homophobic stereotypes?

Culture, Humanities, and Languages Multiple Cultural Perspectives Independent Work Writing and Research In this course, students are expected to spend a MINIMUM of eight to ten hours outside of class time engaged in the following activities: completing the assigned readings, writing blog posts, reviewing video clips, and conducting research for their term papers.