Professor: Dayna Chatman
4.00 credits
CRN 36975: Tuesday & Thursday, 2:00-3:50pm @ GSH 132
This seminar course interrogates the social, cultural, political, and industry conditions that contextualize Black Americans’ presence in U.S. television both on-screen and behind the scenes from the 1950s to the present. This course combines lectures, in-class and out-of-class screenings, and instructor and student-led discussions. Students will read the works of scholars documenting Black American television history and criticism and audience reception. Additionally, students will use an intersectional lens and practice analyzing television programs in terms of representations of race, gender, class, and sexuality. The course culminates in an original research project where students showcase their knowledge of the varied conditions that shaped the production of one television show and offer an engaged analysis of the shows’ representations of Black Americans.