Civic Communication and Media
CCM 104 Communicating Race (4)
This course considers how race (a social construct with real-world implications) affects intrapersonal, interpersonal, and public communication. Communicating Race combines the tools of self-reflection, rhetorical listening, and the analysis of public discourse to answer complex questions, such as—How do people come to understand their own racialized identities? How do people talk about race in ways that both maintain and contest power relations? How do conversations about race challenge and also perpetuate systemic inequalities? Through the process of collaboratively pursuing answers to guiding questions such as these, students are prompted to more fully recognize their own intersectional positionality in relation to institutionalized power. Communicating Race engages with students’ lived experiences, while also exploring a range of theoretical concepts including implicit bias, stereotype threat, white fragility, micro-aggressions, allyship, speaking for others, systemic racism, colorblind racism, and anti-racism. By learning to convey their increasingly nuanced understanding of race through a variety of media, furthermore, students in this course will gain valuable experience communicating about complex topics and enacting how communication can be meaningfully used toward antiracist ends.
- General Education Requirement Fulfillment: PDE
- Offering: Alternate years
- Instructor: Parker Brooks