Race, Racism and The Image Flashcards
Full course info/notes for the final exam
Body politic (week 1)
A common group with shared politics
What is race most often associated to? (week 1)
Characteristics or attributes; not so much the physical.
How can characteristics be classified? (week 1)
In awareness and out of awareness
In awareness characteristics (week 1)
The visible (ie. dress, cooking, music, etc.)
Out of awareness characteristics (week 1)
The underlying (ie. rules, concepts, relationships, etc.)
Socialization (week 1)
The process of being trained into our culture by learning norms, our relationship to others, roles, etc.
Is human objectivity possible? (week 2)
No, because of our social upbringing. We make sense of the world through out context.
Representation (week 2)
The process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture through language, signs, etc.
First system (week 2)
How we organize mental representations of things; how we relate to them.
Why do we have shared meanings? (week 2)
So we can relate and communicate with others.
Frames of reference (week 2)
The “glasses” we use to view and make sense of society through cultural contexts.
What do frames consist of? (week 2)
Group identities (ie. race, gender, class, sexuality, etc.)
What do lenses consist of? (week 2)
Minor/Micro things (ie. personality, talents, interests, etc.)
Every social group has different frames, lenses, stereotypes, etc. True or False? (week 2)
True
Prejudice (week 2)
Pre-judgement about a person’s group identity because of stereotypes, beliefs, or feelings.
Discrimination (week 2)
Actions based on prejudices.
Democratic racism (week 2)
Two conflicting sets of values; commitment to principles, but also prejudices against minorities.
How many and what are the different types of discourse of democratic racism? (week 2)
There are 13 in total:
1. Political correctness
2. Colour-blindness
3. Equal opportunity
4. “Blaming” the victim
5. White victimization
6. Reverse racism
7. Binary polarization
8. Moral panic
9. Law and order
10. Multiculturalism
11. Liberal values
12. Neoliberalism
13. National identity
What two key figures shaped early social science with Eurocentric racial views? (week 2)
Comte and Spencer; they established racial hierarchies as normative, influencing future analyses of race.
Systemic racism (week 2)
When societies are build and grounded in system that benefit whiteness and disadvantage POC.
True or false. Racial hierarchies were discredited by early social scientific thought. (week 2)
False
True or false. Current social scientific research can be influenced by historical racial biases. (week 2)
True
Foundational racism (week 2)
Racism present in the early development of social sciences that influenced racial theories that justified colonialism and oppression.
What does ideology shape in people? (week 2)
Their understanding of social, cultural, political, and economic systems; reflecting their needs, hopes, and fears.
Characteristics of ideologies (week 2)
- Shape perceptions of societal systems
- Change with experiences
- If racist, provide frameworks for societal inequality and exclusion
True or false. Cultural institutions like media and education play crucial roles in perpetuating racist ideologies and marginalizing racialized groups. (week 2)
True
Oppression (week 3)
A set of policies, practices, traditions or norms that systematically hold down a group for the benefit of the other.
Dominant groups (week 3)
The benefited; those who hold power and resources over the minoritized/oppressed.
Privilege (week 3)
The rights, benefits, and resources only some have access to.
What is prejudice a mix of? (week 3)
Prejudice, discrimination, and power.
Does prejudice function by group or individuals? (week 3)
By group
True or false. Minoritized groups are those who define the norm for what is beautiful, valuable, and normal in an institutional setting. (week 3)
False, it’s dominant groups.
Why can’t reverse racism exist? (week 3)
Because racism involves unequal power relations in history and institutions.
True or false. You can benefit from oppression even if you oppose from it. (week 3)
True
Internalized dominance (week 3)
The process of being conditioned to accept a higher social standing; happens naturally and subconsciously.
Internalized oppression (week 3)
The process of accepting a lower social standing; even when resisting, they experience it.
True or false. Only currently minoritized groups experienced racial hierarchy in the past. (week 3)
False, Europeans (ex. irish) had it even before arriving to America; it was more about nationality or class.
When and why were the Chinese discriminated against? (week 3)
In the 1880s, for starting to rise to being entrepreneurs.
Racial positioning (week 3)
The perception of your own racial identity based on media representations combined with your own experiences.
How is race used as a technology? (week 3)
For subjugation and classification.
How does race function? (week 3)
As a category of identity and a technique that shapes historical and cultural narratives.
True or false. Race as a technology impacts perception and reality. (week 3)
True
True or false. Chinese construct social visibility and public/private dynamics. (week 3)
False, it’s race.
How do systems recognize blackness? (week 3)
They don’t, but they continuously surveill and hypervisibilize.
True or false. Cameras are an example of a historical instance where systemic racial biases could be present. (week 3)
True, the cameras were able to capture white people adequately, but not black folks.
True or false. Companies prioritize equity above all else. (week 3)
Fake, they prioritize efficiency.
True or false. According to Richard Dyer, race applies to everyone, including white people. (week 4)
False, it only applies to non-whites.
Racialization (week 4)
Grouping people based on skintone.
White supremacy (week 4)
The belief that white people are superior to POC; based mainly on scientific racism.
True or false. White culture is minoritized. (week 4)
False, it’s dominant and the “hidden norm”.
Model minority myth (week 4)
The construction of positive stereotypes to combat discrimination.
Colorism (week 4)
The within-group and between-group prejudice in favor of lighter skin tones.
What is dark skin often associated with? (week 4)
Criminality; it comes from seeing slaves as criminals when they ran away.
What is the main business that benefited from utilizing the idea of whiteness? (week 4)
The beauty industry through soaps, skin bleaching products, etc.
What are the two layers of meaning and what do they mean? (week 4)
- Connotative: how cultural/historical context impact our interpretation of things.
- Denotative: the obvious or the facts.
True or false. Stereotypes are fixed and unchanging. (week 4)
False
Intertextuality (week 4)
When an image can refer to others and have its meaning changed because of that.
True or false. The Shirley Card was revolutionary for considering a variety of skin tones. (week 4)
False, it favored lighter skin tones in photo and film.
Color complex (week 4)
When darker skin tones appear muddy or less detailed in photos.
What is one of the main factors as to why there are more skin tones included now? (week 4)
Economic factors; market influence.
What are two cultures that have deeply rooted colorism? (week 4)
Asian and Latino cultures
True or false. Light-skin individuals have better job prospects and social mobility. They also don’t experience discrimination elsewhere. (week 4)
False, the first part is true, however they can experience privilege in their community and still be scrutinized in others.
Associations to lighter skin (week 4)
Purity, health, beauty, wealth, social status, etc.
True or false. We absorb societal preferences until we’re adults. (week 4)
False, we absorb them as children.
True or false. Most mainstream media and corporations are owned by white men who impact what ends up on screen. (week 5)
True
Who/what pushes racism? (week 5)
Institutions, groups or organizations.
True or false. Neoliberalism believes racism depends on institutions. (week 5)
False, they believe it’s based on individuals, downplaying historical and systemic barriers.
Systemic racism (week 5)
Racist practices which exist in institutions or society as a whole and prevents POC from obtaining power or resources.
What is one common characteristic of systemic racism? (week 5)
It pushes that it’s protecting rights and values while excluding POC.
What are other words to refer to a multicultural place? (week 5)
A melting pot or a mosaic
Vertical mosaic (week 5)
Preference for certain groups over others in a society.
Colorblind ideology (week 5)
The belief that not talking about or acknowledging race stops racism.
What is the “Hollywood Indian” archetype? (week 5)
It’s divided in a few characters: the honourable warrior, the Indian princess, etc.
What is colorblindness often linked to? (week 6)
Meritocratic belief; if you succeed then there’s no racism, everyone has the same tools.
True or false. Color-blindness serves to justify systemic racial inequallity while obscuring the reality of racism. (week 6)
True
What does it mean to look? (week 7)
To view, understand, appreciate, and make meaning.
True or false. Looking is part of social power dynamics. (week 7)
True, being visible is a privilege.
What is visuality influenced by? (week 7)
Surrounding and cultural context
What is the difference for how daguerrotypes were advertised for white vs black people? (week 7)
When used for white people, portraits or science were their main utilities. When used for black people, it was racial reinforcement by photographing slaves.
True or false. Non-white bodies (especially women) are often hypersexualized. (week 7)
True
True or false. Black photography was a spectacle of black suffering and death, reinforcing white supremacy. (week 7)
True
Visuality (week 7)
The social conditions of the visible; how power operates in modern societies.
Counter-visuality (week 7)
The creative tactics used to dismantle hegemonic visual strategies; resisting power through visuals.
What is the release of surveillance videos of African Americans being subjected to violence supposed to achieve, and what does it fail to do? (week 7)
They’re supposed to bring awareness to the issue at hand, however at the cost of commodifying Black Death it fails to provide justice.
True or false. Videos of police violence serve as clickbait. (week 7)
True
Whiteness (week 8)
A social construct that embodies the cultural, social, and political privileges associated with being white.
True or false. The constant documentation of Black Death in media generates a desensitization effect. (week 8)
True
Critical visuality (week 8)
The need to re-evaluate visual representations of blackness.
True or false. Relying on empathetic responses to black suffering allows progress against systemic racism. (week 8)
False, it can obscure the structural issues of systemic racism that generate violence.
Cultural appropriation (week 9)
The use of a culture’s symbols, artefacts, genres, rituals, etc. by members of another culture.
True or false. Whether something is or not cultural appropriation depends on intention. (week 9)
False, it depends on the social, economic, and political context it occurs in. In other words, the interaction between the two cultures involved.
What are the four categories of cultural appropriation? (week 9)
- Exchange: equal standing of power; reciprocal and voluntary.
- Dominance: submissive uses from the dominant; might be assimilation due to most being imposed.
- Exploitation: dominant takes from submissive; mining for consumption with no permission or recognition.
- Transculturation: many elements from many cultures with no knowledge of where they came from; international and hybrid.
Commodification (week 9)
When cultural goods or ideas transform into commodities or objects of trade. It alienates the original context and changes its meaning.
What is an example of cultural appropriation related to black people? (week 9)
Blackface, when white people get it, it becomes desirable.
Flesh dance (week 9)
The libidinal, rhythmic movement of black femme bodies.
Cultural extraction (week 9)
The commodification of something without proper credit or compensation to the creators.
Performative allyship (week 9)
Symbolic support for social justice movements without meaningful actions.
What are the scales of mimicry? (week 9)
- Identity formation: challenges to build community and express individuality
- Parody: overdoing racial differences for humour
- Sexualization: exploiting hypersexual stereotypes
Capital accumulation: economic rewards for others’ creativity
Racial capitalism (week 9)
Racial hierarchies perpetuate economic inequalities through commodification of cultural labor.
Relational aesthetics (week 10)
Participatory and interactive practices in contemporary art that rely on audience engagement to create meaning.
What does post-slavery subjectivity imply? (week 10)
That slavery’s legacies continue to shape identities.
Digital vernacular photography (week 10)
Photo practices that contribute to memory making and cultural commentary
Crowdsourcing (week 10)
The solicitation of contributions from a large group of people to co-create the exhibition’s digital presence.
Affective stickiness (week 10)
How emotions cling to objects and subjects, shaping audiences reactions and social dynamics.
Cultural consumption (week 10)
The act of interacting with and interpreting art, shaped by social hierarchies and individual perceptions.
What does the selfie represent? (week 10)
A form of performative spectatorship prioritizing personal display over engagement with the work’s deeper meaning.
Racial objectification (week 10)
The reduction of black individuals to objects of consumption and control
What is “A Subtlety” and what does it represent? (week 10)
A statue by Kara Walker of a massive sugar sphinx and “sugar boys” statues. It challenges binaries and highlights racial stereotypes through crowdsourcing.
