Let's watch some YouTube videos - commercials, ads, music videos, etc. - and deconstruct them in order to understand what messages are being relayed to us, the audience, and why particular images and portrayals of race (and class & gender) are created. Who is represented? Who does the labor of this reproduction of identities? What work does a video do? How do we consume these identities whether or not we identify as any of them?

We will analyze both music videos and commercials in order to investigate the message that the forms of media plan to relay to various communities or groups of people about specific, diasporic communities or groups of people. I hope to give you the tools to break down the particular messages that commercials and videos are trying to relay about certain diasporas in the U.S.

A seminar that will cover a brief history of hip-hop and pop music, and the role that race, ethnicity, and culture play within these popular music genres. How have people of color recorded their experiences in these forms of music? What are some of the debates taking place in discussions about music? We will discuss debates regarding music and race. Are artists like Macklemore, Lorde, Lily Allen, and Katy Perry racist or not? Come discuss and decide for yourself!