CMCL-C 334: Current Topics in Communication and Culture
(Topic: African American Cinema)
Class Number: 15328

MW, 4:00 PM-5:15 PM, TE F260
Required film screenings: Tu, 7:00 PM-10:00 PM


Instructor: Karen Bowdre 			

With the global popularity of hip hop, it is easy to believe
problematic Black racial representations are a thing of the past.
However, when one considers the roles available to African American
actors and actresses, it seems that confining stereotypes still
dominate the majority of Hollywood and Independent films.  This
course is a survey of African American film from the 1920s to the
present.  The central focus of the class will be an investigation of
race and representation in American culture.  As films are screened,
students will interrogate politics, history and culture through the
texts read and the films watched.  One of the key issues we will
examine is how specific images circulate in American culture and how
and if these images alter over time.  The interaction between movies
and other forms of popular culture such as music and television will
also be considered.  This class will also engage with historical and
contemporary debates on the construction and representation of race
in film.  Our analysis will employ theoretical discourses from
cultural studies, critical race theory, and feminist film theory. At
the end of the course, students should have an understanding of
racial representation, blackness and the other ethnic constructions
of race, and how they operate in contemporary society.