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Module Course Readings ( Pick 4 and cite)

Required reading/viewing:

(Ore) Hargittai—“The Digital Reproduction of Inequality” (#26); Merskin—“Winnebagos, Cherokees…”(#27); Alsultany—“The Prime-Time Plight of the Arab American…” (#28)

(Web Materials) 

· View this brief Al Jazeera video that explains the concept of Orientalism (closed captions available in video), which was initially developed by Edward Said.  https://youtu.be/4QYrAqrpshw

· Read " Scripted Fantasies and Innovative Orientalisms (Links to an external site.) " by Lissovoy et al.  (if link doesn't work, use this: Lissovoy et al--2017--Scripted Fantasies & Innovative Orientalisms.pdf ).  This is an article from an academic journal (in the field of cultural studies) and thus is theoretically complex, so you should allot yourself additional time to read and reread the article.  ;-)  I've included this article because it explicitly analyzes media content targeting youth and thus materials with which most of you are likely quite familiar: the video game Call of Duty; a YouTube channel from a gaming vlogger titled PewDiePie; and Hollywood films World War Z, Planet of the Apes, and The Hunger Games series.  Of particular importance in the article is Edward Said's concept of "Orientalism."  The concept of Orientalism is important in that it captures what has been identified (by Said and later, others) as a longstanding way that the West frames its understanding of myriad "others" (especially Asians and Middle Easterners).  For example, on p. 452, the authors explain:

Across the media texts we analyzed, notions of good and evil are usually presented in binaries that draw upon fear of human eradication. In this context, the sanctity of the West perpetuates ideological narratives that stigmatize people of the global (South-)East as dirty, disease-carrying, and dangerous. This script ignores the “objective violence” (Žižek, 2008b) of Western aid institutions whose neoliberal organization chronically underserves people of color and impoverished communities.

What the authors are conveying here is that the narratives--the stories--we tell in popular culture do two things simultaneously.  First, nonWhite people from around the globe are portrayed as dangerous and dirty "others" who are juxtaposed to safe and clean Westerners (who are framed as White).  Thus, as youth in Western cultures--especially White youth--consume these materials for fun and enjoyment, they are being taught specific lessons not only about peoples around the globe, but about themselves (and even if consumers aren't White, they're compelled to identify with interests of Western Whites).  These lessons are decidedly hierarchical, wherein Westerners are portrayed as civilized, advanced, and egalitarian while "others" are portrayed as the inverse.  Second, these stories also erase the violence undertaken by the West in the past (colonialism) and the present (US/European and allies' economic and foreign policies).  And when Western violence is acknowledged, it's cast as legitimate, as protecting civilization.  What's important here is that the (re)production of Orientalism is often quite subtle or tacit because it's embedded in the ordinary, everyday ways that we engage in the world (e.g., playing video games, watching movies, visiting YouTube sites).  To be sure, there are other elements to the production of culture, but Orientalism often shapes those arenas as well.  The article provides a number of other insights that you might find of interest.  

· View Anita Sarkeesian's video "Manufacturing a Muslim Menace," from her web  series The FREQ Show.  Sarkeesian is a well established and respected media critic who analyses of the ideas portrayed through media imagery, including Hollywood films, television shows, and video games.  Her website (and associated YouTube channel),  Feminist Frequency  (Links to an external site.) has tons of material that she's produced over the past 8 or so years.  She's received lots of attention for her critical analysis of media content, most notably her analysis and criticism of the portrayal of women in video games in a series titled " Tropes vs. Women (Links to an external site.) " (scroll down for "Tropes" series in the link).  In the video below, Sarkeesian provides an analysis of the media's production of the stereotype of the "Muslim terrorist."  I've selected this video this week because Sarkeesian does a nice job of explaining that this stereotype is not new; it is a recent manifestation of Orientalism.   Note, too, that Sarkeesian takes her analysis a step further by infusing it with an intersectional perpsective, noting how ideas about masculinity and femininity are conveyed in the content, generally resulting in the erasure of Arab & Muslim women from the imagery.  https://youtu.be/ZVUmpuq7ygg

· Watch the following CNN video clip, which features an interview with sociologist Reza Aslan.  The interview is built around the question of whether the religion of Islam promotes violence.  Aslan challenges the assumption of the question and repeatedly points out the problems with the premise of the question. https://youtu.be/q-W-7ozJXLw