Teaching Analysis and Agency Using Racist and Sexist Imagery: Implications for Cultural Studies in the College Classroom

Abstract

Black Women in America is an upper-division elective course for students majoring in African American or women’s studies at California State University Fullerton (CSUF). Students can also take the course for general education credit (GEC) to fulfill the disciplinary learning requirement in the social sciences category. I have taught this course at CSUF at least once a year since 2002 and have changed the course readings, lectures, and assignments on a regular basis. In April 2007, however, when American radio personality Don Imus created a national controversy by referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team, whose players were predominantly Black, as a group of “nappy-headed hos,” I was provoked to completely overhaul my approach to teaching this course. It was clear that my students did not fully understand the complicated cultural issues raised by Imus’s comments. This article describes how I incorporated visual images of Black women in media and culture to help my students challenge narrow, false, and distorted depictions of Black women’s daily lives. It further explains my intellectual rationale for the particular course goals, objectives, and pedagogical tools I took up using a three-pronged approach to cultural studies analysis. Finally, this article showcases some of my students’ work, which demonstrates how students can use their analytical skills to promote Black women’s agency.