AAS Midterm Study Guide

AAS Midterm Study Guide Created by Created time Eesha Ray @October 19, 2024 12:20 PM class AAS 275 done due date @October 27, 2024 type notes This study guide is intended to help you prepare for our in-class midterm on October 28th, 2024. I will choose one of the prompts as your in-class essay. And chill! As long as you’ve done the reading and come regularly to class, you are prepared to take this midterm. Concepts and Terms: Stuart Hall and Bell Hooks Representation—What is it? How is it made and what does it affect? Stuart Hall— 3 theories of representation Reflective: language simply reflects meaning which already exists (the object defines itself) Intentional: language only expresses the speaker's intended meaning (the author creates meaning) Constructionist: meaning is constructed in and through language (this is the practice of representation that Stuart Hall takes up)… Human beings make that meaning AAS Midterm Study Guide 1 Meaning depends on system of concepts and images, not individual concepts but rather ways of relating things (black cannot be black without white) Regime of Representation: the way Black women were portrayed in the past influences how they’re seen today Bell Hooks the pain of learning that we cannot control our images interferes with efforts to construct self identity Imperial gaze: the gaze that seeks to dominate, subjugate and colonize All media descend from white-men controlled media and it is hard to escape these images, control of images=control of narrative=power We must be critical observers of media not passive observers Discourse Central Argument/Ethos “...ways of referring to, or constructing knowledge about a particular topic of practice.” “A cluster (or formation) of ideas, images, and practices, which provide ways of talking about...a particular topic, social activity, or institutional site in our society.” “...concerned with the effects and consequences of representation...how knowledge connects with power, regulates conduct, and constructs identities.” Connections to Course Themes/Example: Black Representation in media; shaped by the white gaze and maintains oppression. Ideology System of ideas/ideals that form the basis of economic or political thought, policy, and culture. Instance— Ideology behind professionalism (Standards that were set by white men): Dressing a certain way, acceptable hairstyles and behaviors. Ideologies influence representations (determine how people are portrayed) AAS Midterm Study Guide 2 Representations perpetuate ideologies rooted in white supremacy Stuart Hall 1. challenge ideologies that are represented in the media…do not conform. People give meaning through discourse. The media shapes our perception of the world. Bell Hooks 1. Black representations are always shaped by the context of white media 2. These representations justify racism, colonialism, and slavery Hegemony Stuart Hall: Winning consent of other groups in a society to view the world, a specific way Made through consent: you are born to a system that makes you consent to have this agreement to view things a certain way *Uses evidence of a certain experience to get everyone to think a certain way: White men dictate how things look Bell Hooks: The White supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy The “Other” and how difference is constructed in representation Stuart: The other exists because it constructs meaning, linguistic purpose, dialogue, and difference is constructed through representation (relativity) Bell hooks: The other, fetish of women of color for the sake of entertainment, seeing someone for the sake of their otherness Two unique takes Stuart Hall Semiotics Linguistics Definition: The study or science of signs and their general role as vehicles of meaning in our culture AAS Midterm Study Guide 3 The “how” of representation, rather, how language produces and communicates meaning. Bell Hooks Spectatorship 1992 essay "The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators" She argues that (oppositional) gaze became an act of rebellion during the era of American slavery when slave-owners often punished slaves for simply looking at them. Hooks explains that Black women are not only underrepresented in film, but they are also not allowed to "look" either. Looking implores a sense of power that is removed from the Black female body, to play the role of object in direct relation to white female existence. Essentially… criticized for criticizing… forced to just accept it. Knowledge is power, and if they know they’re being mistreated, that is a threat to the dominant force. Hooks' discussion and definition of oppositional gaze (encourages criticism) allows for spectators and the audience to be aware of it on screen. Oppositional Gaze Above Definition: the refusal to identify with “the gaze” of a given media, and a way to demonstrate agency in how media is understood by being critical/the process by which Black women "look back" in a way that resists dominant narratives the lack of consideration for black female spectators in feminist film criticism black women have been largely excluded from mainstream media narratives (dominated by white, male perspectives) rendering black women invisible or as stereotypes that reinforce oppressive narratives oppositional gaze allows them to critically engage with and resist the representations that try to define them AAS Midterm Study Guide 4 Patricia Hill Collins Controlling Images—be able to identify all of them, and understand how they work to impact Black women’s everyday lives Definition: Negative images that help justify black women’s oppression. They are designed to make racism, sexism, poverty, and other forms of social injustice appear to be natural, normal, and inevitable parts of everyday life. Mammy: Faithful, and obedient domestic servant who loves to serve her white masters and treats them better than her own family. A normative yardstick used to measure all Black women’s behavior. “successful” black woman Central to intersecting oppressions of race, gender, sexuality, and class. People internalize this image and use it to oppress black women through the expectations they create from this representation. Matriarch: The mother figure in the black homes. Symbolizes the “bad” Black mother who emasculates her lovers and husbands. She represents a failed mammy. Portraying black women as matriarch makes them a scapegoat for the blame of black children’s failures in school and with the law, as well as their subsequent poverty Supports racial oppression by using gender relations in African American communities as a measure of black cultural disadvantage. i.e. the black women are in charge that’s why their families are failing… it’s not the system’s fault Black Lady: Highly educated middle class professional woman who represents a modern version of the politics of respectability Has an all-consuming career that makes them have no time for men or makes them forget how to treat them… aromantic Too routinely compete with men which makes them less feminine AAS Midterm Study Guide 5 Take jobs that should more worthy whites through affirmative action which leads questioning of the qualification of Black women for jobs → can also lead to black men thinking that they are taking jobs meant for them (even tho system is the one that hires black men less) Jezebel: Sexually aggressive Black woman Image originated under slavery Representation of deviant Black female sexuality (wild) By relegating all Black women to the category of sexually aggressive women, a powerful rationale was created for the widespread assaults by White men typically reported by Black slave women (justification) The characteristic of an excessive sexual appetite masculinizes Black women because they desire sex just as much as any man Demarks the border between heterosexuality and homosexuality Welfare Queen: Highly materialistic, domineering, and manless working-class black woman who is content to take the hard-earned money of the tax paying Americans and remain married to the state. Low morals, lazy, and uncontrolled sexuality that cause her impoverished state Evolved from the welfare mother through stigmatization, and was used as a reason for the cuts in government spending on social welfare programs. This phrase describes economic dependency Hoochie Mama: The contemporary version of the jezebel; sexually assertive Black women and they can be ambitious if they are the “gold-digging” type There are different types: “club”, “plain,” “gold-digging” etc. Links the hoochie image to poverty and the hoochie mama’s main purpose is provide sexual favors She is a mother who exchanges sexual favors for money to provide for her children 1. Sexyy Red AAS Midterm Study Guide 6 Sapphire: Angry Black woman who also hates men. Portrays Black women as rude, loud, malicious, irrational, and stubborn. She can also be sassy, but her only job, especially in the media, is to support the white people. She criticizes, not to improve things, but because she is just bitter and unhappy Black Feminist Epistemology Definition: Seeks to recognize the effects of sexism, racism, and classism on Black women’s lives. (how do we know what we know) Five key characteristics: Lived experience matters for knowledge production… look at the perspective of the oppressed to understand Dialogue is central to assessing what we know An ethic of caring is necessary for a researcher… should not be so objective Personal accountability for the knowledge you create Black women are legitimate agents of knowledge about our own lives… black women can speak on their own experience Black Feminist Thought (and Bell Hooks) The main idea is that black women are not represented or protected in society. They are not protected by blacks nor are they protected by women. As black people, black women are expected to side with their race and not out black men when they make inappropriate advances on them. If they out them, they are not guaranteed to be supported as women as black women are stereotyped as Jezebels. AAS Midterm Study Guide 7 Court basically says the constitution does not state black women as citizens that will be protected… so they ignore their concerns (more on that later) If black women are being discriminated against but all women are not… doesn’t count If all black people are not… doesn’t count They are not seen as their own people… white women are at least seen as women Politics of Respectability (mainly Jane Rhodes) Definition: internal forms of shaming and policing black people in an effort to prove white people “wrong” about racism also defined as forms of self-fashioning that attempt to show morality and worth via projecting an image of dignity “held core values such as hard work, piety (religious), cleanliness, sexual purity, and temperance” - jane rhodes media portrayed what black women should do to instruct new migrants on “acceptable behavior” Collins critiques this approach, arguing that it can sometimes reinforce existing power structures rather than challenge them. She highlights the importance of intersectionality in understanding how race, gender, and class intersect to shape experiences of respectability rhodes elaborates on this by discussing how the politics of respectability can create internal divisions within marginalized communities, as some individuals may be deemed "acceptable" while others are not based on their adherence to mainstream values Representations of Black Women’s Sexuality (also Bell Hooks, Hazel Carby, Darlene Clark Hine) Has to do with the controlling images and how black women are either portrayed as not sexual at all or too sexual for their own good Rest AAS Midterm Study Guide 8 Misogynoir (Bailey) Misogynoir: The uniquely co-constituted racialized and sexist violence that befalls Black women as a result of their interlocking oppression of race and gender The image(s) as a means of approval and justification for violence and policy: Negative portrayals of Black women 1. Jezebel a. Overly sexual 2. Mammy a. Keen on serving anyways 3. Sapphire a. Angry for no reason 4. Welfare Queen justifies the policy decisions that cut social programs for millions of Americans. Limited Federal resources for Black women and threw Black women under the bus. They used a single black woman's abuse of a system to justify welfare cuts 5. Strong Black Woman a. Example: health disparity… many black women are not believed when they voice their problems about health an example is Serena Williams. She developed blood clots during birth and had to be her own Advocate (interesting) b. Bailey emphasizes how disability and health are vectors in Black cultural studies and how Black feminism is deeply invested in. Digital alchemy Designed to create better representations for those most marginalized, through the implementation of networks of care beyond the boundaries of the digital from which it springs. (24) 1. Defensive: short term tactic, doesn’t enable transformation, but allows violence to be addressed AAS Midterm Study Guide 9 a. Tweet 2. Generative: from a desire for new representation a. Online presence, short films that go towards better rep of black women Intersectionality (Kimberlé Crenshaw and the Combahee River Collective) 1. Author(s)- The Combahee River Collective (a group of black feminists) Key term Black feminism: the logical movement to combat the manifold stimulus women of color face Contemporary Black feminism is the outgrowth of countless generations of personal sacrifice and work by mothers and sisters Freedom and self-determination address all “interlocking systems of oppression,” which to CRC includes racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia Central Argument/Ethos The sexual Identity and Racial Identity of Black women have led them to be oppressed in America, their existence is political and it makes their struggles unique Hard to separate race and sex in an oppressive system as black women (racial sexual oppression) No one has observed the intersectionality of being a black woman Emphasized structural change that would free Black women… and therefore everyone else “It was our experience and disillusionment within these liberation movements, as well as experience on the periphery of the white male left, that led to the need to develop a politics that was antiracist, unlike those of white women, and antisexist, unlike those of black and white men”. We have in many ways gone beyond white women’s revelations because we are dealing with the implications of race and class as well as sex. Even our black women’s style of talking/testifying in black language about what we have experienced has a resonance that is cultural and political. AAS Midterm Study Guide 10 If black women were free everyone is free because their struggles are seen in all systems of oppression White feminism is not enough (does not explore the experience of black women's oppression) Intersectionality: A framework recognizing that individuals experience discrimination and disadvantage based on multiple, overlapping identities, such as race, gender, class, etc. Single-axis framework: The dominant approach in law and theory that examines discrimination through one category (race or gender), neglecting how multiple factors intersect. Title VII cases: Legal cases concerning employment discrimination, particularly as it relates to race and gender. Central Argument: Crenshaw critiques the limitations of antidiscrimination law, feminist theory, and antiracist politics for using a "single-axis" framework that marginalizes Black women. She argues that Black women’s experiences cannot be understood solely through race or gender categories; instead, the concept of intersectionality should be adopted to address their unique experiences of discrimination. She asserts that Black women’s exclusion from feminist and antiracist discourses (invisible) illustrates how these movements often only consider the experiences of more privileged group members (e.g., white women, Black men), which results in the further marginalization of those who are doubly burdened by race and gender DeGraffenreid v. General Motors Either Congress didn’t comprehend the possibility of “Black women” being discriminated against, or, Congress didn’t intend to protect Black women. DeGraffenreid v. General Motors was a 1976 case in which five Black women from Missouri filed a class action lawsuit against General Motors for discrimination. The case is considered an important example of how courts have failed to use an intersectional lens to address labor discrimination (pg. 59). They claimed Black women were not discriminated because white woman still had jobs at this institution (did not differentiate between black and white women because each are women) AAS Midterm Study Guide 11 *so white women represent women, which is why black women problems are overshadowed due to the fact white women don’t have them… if white women don’t no woman does Moore vs Hughes Black women cannot represent all women because of race (so now they differentiate), white women do not have a race under us law (pg. 60). District court refused to certify Moore as a class representative in sex discrimination (she cannot represent all woman because she is black). The court did not look into an intersectional lens for this case. *a black woman is not qualified to speak about sex discrimination because she cannot represent all women, as only white women can Payne v. Travenol Black women also cannot represent all Black people... because gender. Black female plaintiffs filed a class action suit for racial discrimination on behalf of all Black employees at a pharmaceutical plant. The court, however, limited the case to Black women only. While the court found significant racial discrimination and awarded compensation to the Black female employees, it refused to do this for Black men. This case shows how black women had to pick and choose what they represent in cases of discrimination gender or sex (62) *Black men can probably represent all black people but black woman can’t… essentially, black woman can’t represent woman, blacks, or anything rlly (confirms invisibility status… you don’t count) The history of Black representation in the United States (Ethnic Notions film) Black representation in the United States is connected to enslavement and the need to justify the condition of those who were enslaved Namely the mammy (from which all other controlling images of Black women derive from) and the Sambo (childish) were used to depict happy slaves that enjoyed their station in life and, in the mammy’s case, saw it as their sole task in life to please their white masters. The Coon was the lazy black man (liked music I think) who was painted as “good-for-nothing” as he resisted serving whites… American shows AAS Midterm Study Guide 12 portrayed these men in a laughing matter Black representation was also implicated for the purpose of consumption because they were on everything from home decorations to the food boxes like Pancake mix, syrup and rice. This representation was also there for comedic purposes to make the whole of America laugh, but unfortunately since many people likely didn’t encounter Black people on a regular basis these depictions and stereotypes became the basis for the opinions people developed in terms of their understanding of this group of people. Dissemblance (Darlene Clark Hine) Dissemblance: behavior and attitudes of Black women that created the appearance of openness and disclosure, but actually shielded the truth of their inner lives and selves from their oppressors (illusion of conformity to elevate status) Self-imposed invisibility to increase sense of self-possession and worth or in an attempt to control negative images/fight stereotypes especially the hypersexual negative image (by denying their sexuality) A wariness of anyone who seems to be seeking too much personal information Maintains their sanity… so they can own at least a part of themselves Necessary for safety, especially for Black domestic workers who relied on their employers’ comfort and approval Policing Black Women (Hazel Carby) Moral Panic: migrant black women were defined as a threat to societal values and interests by the mass media Migration: (rural to urban) the move of black women to the urban cities caused social dislocation and displacement which led to uncontrolled black women Phyllis Wheatly Association: founded by Jane Edna Hunter, a controlled system of lodging houses under black control which prepared young black women for domestic service and surveilled all aspects of their lives (Hunter AAS Midterm Study Guide 13 saw this as a way to improve relations between white mistress and maid by producing a “happy and efficient servant”) Jane Edna Hunter (despite being a highly trained black nurse from the south who went to the north) couldn’t find a doctor who wanted to hire her and as a result, resorted to domestic work wanted to police and protect black women to better the image of black women and relations with white people Carby argues that urbanization had gender-specific and class-specific consequences for how African American culture developed as well as for the representation of Black Women Frances Kellor (household researcher in New York) believed that there wasn’t a lack of job possibilities for black women, but black women didn’t want to do hard work and therefore sell their bodies (“bodies need surveillance”) black migrant women looking for work and alone needed “protection,” leading to prostitution because they were unable to protect themselves and work hard Kellor recommended 1) practical and sympathetic women to guide and direct the black women when they arrived from the south, 2) lodging houses where black women could be sent at night and kept from going in the streets, 3) the creation of training schools to make black women more efficient upper and middle-class black people in the north saw the migration of black women as a threat to the progress of the race, to the establishment of a respectable urban black middle class, to the congenial black and white middle-class relations, and to the formation of black masculinity in an urban environment blues music from black women is thought to be stemmed from the oppression and dislocation Black women today are still policed on how to act, what to wear, how to style their hair, etc… AAS Midterm Study Guide 14 Organized Vice: corrupt city politics that enabled and maintained the repression and struggle of black women Critical Thinking :) (just know) Understand the purpose and process of thick description Be able to tell the difference between a critical interpretation of a representation and an opinion Prospective Essay Prompts: 1. Discuss how the history of slavery, segregation, and racial terror shapes the present-day landscape of representations of Black women in U.S. media. How has the history of racism and sexism in the United States impacted how we see and represent Black women today? a. Mammy… on food packages and how portrayed media wise b. Raping female slaves and blaming it on their sexual appetite i. Jezebel image ii. how this contrasts with the “pure white woman” c. We see them as not sexual or too sexual, not hardworking or too hardworking, only successful if a “mammy”. d. Because black women policed their kind, they justified the system and kept it going (Jane Edna Hunter) 2. Discuss how Patricia Hill Collins’ concept of “controlling images” and/or any of bell hooks’ concepts from “Selling Hot Pussy” and “Eating the Other” helps us to better understand and analyze the representation of Black women’s sexuality in popular media today. What are the preoccupations that U.S. spectators have with Black women’s sexuality, and what historical stereotypes are they based on? a. Some controlling images, such as the mammy and the jezebel, are rooted in stereotypes of black women implemented during slavery (one nonsexual, good, sexual, bad) i. This helps us understand the sexual depiction of black women rappers AAS Midterm Study Guide 15 ii. An instance of the mammy image is Ivy of Good Luck Charlie (loves white family more than her own, serves them) she is also aggressive, which is supposed to give her an unfeminine feel… she is there to contrast Teddy, not meant to seem attractive or “good” b. The black lady and matriarch were more significant images later on when black women moved into urban environments, but even though they are considered nonsexual, they are deemed flawed i. The black lady is not feminine enough because she’s “too smart” and “competitive” stealing jobs away from worthy white men (affirmative action) ii. The matriarch does not parent her kids well and emasculates black men, which is why their families are poor and poorly behaved iii. The matriarch ties into the welfare queen, who is condemned for relying on government money to fund her family, setting a poor example for her kids iv. The welfare queen ties into the hoochie mama, who is poor but unwilling to work hard, so she sells her body for money, again, setting a bad example Seriously either not sexual enough or too sexual bruh 1. Drawing from Patricia Hill Collins, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Bell Hooks, and the Combahee River Collective, discuss Black feminist thought as one approach to analyzing representations of Black women in the U.S. How does Black feminist thought approach the popular representation of Black women, and what are the advantages of using this framework? a. Bell Hooks i. We must be critical observers of media not passive observers because media’s representations justify racism, colonialism, and slavery ii. Hooks' discussion and definition of oppositional gaze (encourages criticism) allows for spectators and the audience to be aware of it on screen b. PHC AAS Midterm Study Guide 16 i. Controlling images breaks down why stereotypes about black woman exist and what they are… which allows us to see the system’s manipulative tactics to benefit themselves by depicting black women this way ii. Black feminist Epistemology c. Kim & Com i. Emphasized structural change that would free Black women… and therefore everyone else ii. Court cases show how black women are ignored (awareness) AAS Midterm Study Guide 17