Women, Minorities and the Media
04:567:334
Spring 2007
Professor: Dr. Deepa Kumar
Office: 112 SCILS Building
Office Phone: 732-932-7500 (8174)
Mailbox: 108 SCILS Building
email: dekumar@rci.rutgers.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays 3:00-4:30pm and by appointment
Description
This course will critically examine the role of the media in enabling, facilitating, or
challenging the social constructions of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation (GRCS) in our
society. The course is organized around different types of media products, such as daytime TV
shows, advertisements, films, video games, primetime TV shows, romance novels, music videos
etc., where gender, race, sexuality and class are contested. We will study both the constructions
of GRCS in these media texts and the conditions of production that enable them. Along the way
we will ask and answer questions such as: How do the media teach us to think about GRCS?
How does the production context and the logic of a commercial media system influence the
representation of GRCS? Do the media reflect societal views on GRCS or do they set the terms
of social discourse?
We will consider the mass media to be one among many other social institutions such as
organized religion, the education system, and the family, which strongly influence our everyday
notions of race, class, sexuality, and gender. Therefore, this course will take an interdisciplinary
approach to analyzing GRSC issues. We will be drawing on research and theories from other
disciplines.
Course Goals and Outcome
Broadly speaking, this course will challenge you to think critically about issues of economic
inequality, oppression, and the power dynamics in our society. You will learn how to become a
critical consumer of the mass media in relation to GRCS issues.
Required Texts.
Linda Holtzman (2000). Media Messages: What Film, Television, and Popular Music Teach us
about Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation. Armonk, New York: ME Sharpe.
Additional readings are on electronic reserve at the Alexander library.
Recommended Readings
Readings useful for your group project:
Creedon, Pamela. (Ed.). 2nd ed. (1993). Women in Mass Communication. Newbury Park: Sage.
Healey, Joseph. (1997). Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the United States. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Pine Forge Press.
Biagi, Shirley and Kern-Foxworth, Marilyn. (Eds.). (1997). Facing Difference: Race, Gender,
and the Mass Media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Rothenberg, Paula. (Ed.). 3rd ed. (1995). Race, Class, and Gender in the United States. New
York: St. Martin's Press.
Class Format
Classes will consist of a variety of the following methods:
*Lectures
*Small and large group discussions
*Video presentations of news segments and educational videos
*Group presentations by students
Requirements
The following are the assignments upon which your grade will be determined.
1. Class participation and attendance—15%
This class will be combine a lecture format with class participation. I will lecture as a way to
explain complex theories and concepts and answer any questions you may have. I will also,
when necessary, bring in extra materials to help you contextualize the readings. We will also
spend a lot of time discussing the readings, in small and large groups, and doing group oriented
work. It is vital that you come to class having read the articles/essays assigned for the day.
Additionally, on the days that you are assigned readings from the Holtzman book you will need
to complete the required exercises in the chapter. Failure to do so will definitely result in a lower
grade. Since many of the issues we will discuss in class may affect you personally, I hope that
you are prepared to be challenged and to challenge the readings. I do not personally endorse each
and every reading I have assigned. Remember that the views you read are those of the authors’
and they do not necessarily reflect my own views.
Based on the way this class is designed, class participation is mandatory. In order to participate,
you will need to attend classes regularly. If you miss more than 3 classes you will lose points
from your final grade (I do not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences). Finally,
students are required to be in class on time. Persistent lateness will be counted as an absence.
2. Exams
Mid-term Exam= 30%
Final Exam=30%
3. Group Project—25%
Early in the semester, you will be divided into groups and you will work with that group through
the course of the semester. You will do 4 group related projects in class and will submit short
papers which are worth a total of 15%. You will also be required to conduct an analysis of a
media product/process and present your analysis to class. This project is worth 10% of your
grade. More details will be provided in class.
Plagiarism: Except for collaborative assignments officially approved by the Professor
in advance, all work a student submits must be his/her own independent effort.
Students must cite properly all outside sources consulted in preparing written
assignments. Students should review the university policy on Academic Integrity (see
the website for the Teaching Excellence Center). Failure to comply with this policy
can result in failure of the course.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE 
01/17: Introduction
The Context of Production
01/22: “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism and the Media” Douglas Kellner
“The New Media Giants” David Croteau and William Hoynes (on electronic reserve)
01/24: “The Production Process” Joseph Turow (on electronic reserve)
Screening: Behind the Screen
01/29: “Coping with the Risks of Production” Joseph Turow (reserve)
Ideology, Hegemony, and Stereotypes
01/31: “Hegemony” James Lull
“The White’s of their eyes” Stuart Hall (reserve)
02/05: “The Role of Stereotypes” Richard Dyer (reserve)
The Social Construction of Gender
02/07: “Gender in Pink and Blue and Vivid Color” Linda Holtzman from Media Messages
02/12: Group analysis of ads (1)
02/14: “’The More you subtract the more you add” Jean Kilbourne (reserve)
Screening: Killing us Softly 3
02/19: “Advertising and the Construction of White Masculinity” Jackson Katz (reserve)
Screening: Tough Guise
The Social Construction of Race
02/21: “Racing in America” Linda Holtzman from Media Messages (plus exam discussion)
02/26: “Stories of Race in Popular Culture” Linda Holtzman
Screening: Color Adjustments, Part 1
02/28: Color Adjustments Part 2
Exam Prep
03/05: Screening: Reel Bad Arabs
Group analysis of 2 films (2)
03/07: Mid Term exam
03/10-03/18: Spring Break
The Social Construction of Sexual Orientation
03/19: “Sexual Orientation and the Fabrication of ‘Normal’” Linda Holtzman
03/21: “Gay Characters in Conventional Spaces” Kathleen Battles and Wendy Hilton-Morrow
(reserve)
Screening: Celluloid Closet
Group project on media and the representation of Arabs due in class
03/26: Screening of Will and Grace and group analysis (3)
The Social Construction of Class
03/28: Screening: Class Dismissed
04/02: No Class
04/04: “Debunking the Myth of a Classless society” Deepa Kumar (reserve)
“Is the US a classless society?” Linda Holtzman
“Ralph, Fred, Archie and Homer” Richard Butsch (reserve)
04/09: Group Presentation
04/11: Group Presentation
04/16: Group analysis of the sitcom Still Standing (4)
04/18: No Class
04/23: Group Presentation
04/25: Group Presentation
Group project Paper due
 The schedule is subject to change and students are required to keep up with these changes.