COM346: Race, Class, and Gender in Media

This course is one of my regular offerings in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. It’s available as an elective to all majors in the SoCJ and students in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies programs can also take it for WGSS credit.

COM346 primarily prepares students to be thoughtful consumers of media. We learn about intersectionality—how race, class, and gender interact through mutually-constituted systems of oppression. Then we use intersectional methods to analyze representations on film, television, music videos and to analyze media interfaces and infrastructures like Twitter, TikTok, and artificial intelligence. Students interested in graduate school in the arts, humanities, and social sciences will find they learn valuable writing skills and foundational knowledge about race, class, and gender. Students interested in professional communication and media careers will gain important sensitivities to make sure their work is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. And all students will gain skills to be more critical of the world around them.

Below is a truncated version of the syllabus, and you can view the entire syllabus and schedule on Google Docs.

Course Description

What does it mean for race, class, and gender to be “in” our media? It is common knowledge that myriad representations “of” these identities appear “on” our media screens, ranging from empowering to problematic (and “between”). COM 346 will address the theories underlying a variety of prepositions that relate race, gender, class and media. We’ll explore how race, gender, and class are also, in part: products “of” our media environments, sustained “by” our media practices, and baked “in” our media infrastructures. As we learn about these different approaches to media, we will learn to examine various media texts. The course concludes with a project that asks you to explore another preposition: “through” media, in a multimedia project addressing contemporary media and race, class, and/or gender. (Bulletin)  

Learning Outcomes 

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

1. Explain basic definitions and theories of race, class, gender, media, and intersectionality.  
2. Criticize (describe, interpret, and evaluate) representations “on” media. 
3. Analyze relationships among digital technology and identities like race, class, and gender. 
4. Conceptualize and create multimedia projects in response to exigent political issues. 
5. Engage in critical conversations about race, class, gender, and other identities, and media in professional, personal, and civic settings.

Potential Professional Outcomes 

After successfully completing this course you may be able to:

• Be a respectful teammate and ally/accomplice to underrepresented groups in the workplace 
• Provide examples of teamwork on media production projects 
• Demonstrate your inventiveness and courageousness—with nuanced, creative, and bold responses to pressing societal issues.