Communication 497SR - ST-Stories of Race/US

This course examines contemporary issues of race, including the erasure of Indigenous people in a settler society, anti-Black racism, and the racialization of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as how these issues of race intersect with constructions of gender, sexuality, class, and migration. We will approach these issues through stories, a prevalent and familiar mode of communication. Stories of race in the United States abound, and through these stories, our understanding of race continues to evolve. Dominant stories of race assign and affix individuals and communities of people with particular meanings that often recycle tropes and stereotypes, as in Asians are like this or Black people are like that. Using a performative lens, we will turn to Black, Indigenous, People of Color storytelling practices as an alternative entry point into the stories of race. We will examine fiction, short stories, poetry, plays, and other forms of storytelling as communicative strategies that generate alternative stories about the history and culture of race in the United States. Our primary texts will be paired with selected readings from performance, postcolonial, ethnic, feminist, and queer studies.

Open to Senior and Junior Communication majors only.