Doris Nelson

ISS 355

Autumn 2017

Annotated Bibliography

#1.
“Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies: Decoding Cultural Oppression.”
Note: This first academic article was an assigned reading from COM 489: Cultural Studies and
besides the title, I could not find any other information to add to the MLA bibliography.
In “Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies: Decoding Cultural Oppression”, the author examines
cultural studies and it’s “critical perspective that focuses on the political implications and mass
culture.” S/he asserts that “cultural studies is focused on the ideological, oppressive implications
of culture” and explains four ideas that are central to cultural studies: hegemony, signs and
semiotics, representation and discourse, and meaning and struggle. S/he argues that “a critical
approach to cultural studies understands representation as an act of ideological recreation that
serves the specific interest of those who control the media” and that conflict over the meaning of
a sign or a discourse is necessary to “break the social frame, when powerful interests are
involved, or when a striking ideological conflict becomes apparent.”
I found that this source gave me a whole new perspective to analyzing cinematic representations
and Stuart Hall’s conceptions of “becoming” and “being”. This source examines the relationship
between media, power, knowledge, and society. Since knowledge and power are always
intertwined, “knowledge and culture simultaneously state the condition of the world and
reproduce political beliefs and values” regardless if the sign and meanings are true. I agree with
the author when s/he asserts that “cultural change comes through challenging these taken for
granted assumptions or changing the associative meanings of words, through inversion or
metonymic mechanisms.” By challenging false images of those are oppressed, we can take one
step towards guaranteeing “freedom” and “opportunity” (two of my keywords) for all. This essay
was unlike any text I have read in my academic career, it was eye-opening and useful because it
strengthened my understanding of cultural oppression and how we are subjected to subtle racism
via the mass media and those in power every day, cultural studies is a subject that I would like to
continue researching because it will help me figure out the barriers that are blocking equal
opportunity and freedom for all.

#2.
Squires, Catherine. Introduction: African Americans and the Mass Media. Polity, 2009. Print.
In the introduction of African Americans and the Mass Media, Catherine Squires details
significant historical events of the Black Press in the nineteenth century from slavery to
reconstruction. During a time when White newspapers “demeaned African in Americans in
nearly every manner conceivable”, the Blacks created newspapers to “convey their arguments
against slavery and racism in a reasoned fashion.” Squires explains that Black newspapers
became a space for abolitionism and advocacy of black humanity. Black editors, both male and
female, published uplifting articles that would counter negative stereotypes of African
Americans hoping that White readers might take a glimpse and consider that if African
American’ are able to improve themselves intellectually and spiritually, they are worth of
equality. Moreover, Black newspapers appealed to free black communities by creating a
different vision of Black possibilities in America. The Black press “aimed to redefine citizenship
in the United States to include people of African descent in all civil rights and privileges”
threading together individuals into a common Black identity and link Blacks together in common
cause.

Before this reading, I hadn’t realized the significance of the role of the Black Press played and
the challenges that Black newspapers faced. I found this new source to be unlike any source I’ve
studied before. The first chapter of the book heavily focuses on the historical background of
African American media which I found useful because it helped me understand how and why
African Americans fought for adequate representations of themselves in mass media in the
United States. I’d love to finish African Americans and the Mass Media because Squires
provides an “interdisciplinary overview of the past, present, and future of African Americans in
U.S. media” in her book and I have yet to read about the present and future of the Black Press.
Reading Squires book is beneficial because the insight into African Americans and the Mass
Media allows me to analyze the kinds of obstacles African Americans face in reaching equal
opportunity and freedom.

#3.

Said, Edward W. The Scope of Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. Print.
In the first chapter of his book Orientalism, Edward Said attempts to explain the term
“orientalism” and the impact that orientalism has had on the people of the East. Orientalism is
defined by Edward Said as the lens through which Western societies view the East “that distorts
the actual reality of those people and those places.” Orientalism is a construct of imperial
conquest created to stereotype and demonize the “other” in order to conquer and subjugate the
East. Stereotyping the “Orient” as backward, uncivilized, mystical, and dangerous. The West
uses Orientalism as a tool to generalize about an incredibly vast and diverse area of the world
that it knows very little about.
“Orientalism” is an important concept in social sciences because the lens of “orientalism” acts as
a barrier to fully understanding and coexisting with the diverse peoples of the East. Orientalism’s
“way of seeing” often exaggerates, imagines, and distorts images of the East. Like many of my
other ISS readings, it analyzes societal relationships from an outside perspective and recognizes
mis-representation. Orientalism is especially important because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Even
before 9/11, Arabs and Muslims were framed as violent, radicals, and dangerous. Today, they’re
discriminated just because they’re Muslim or an Arab, which in the lens of Orientalism means
they’re dangerous…probably terrorists. Orientalism is an important concept to understand and a
concept that I’d like to continue to study. Being aware that false stereotypes and generalizations
of the “others” exist lets us challenge these negative stereotypes against people of the East.

#4. Rutherford, Jonathan. “Identity: Community, Culture, Difference.” London: Lawrence &
Wishart, 1990.

In Rutherford’s book, he calls attention to an essay titled, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora” by
cultural theorist Stuart Hall. In this essay, he examines Stuart Hall’s position on cultural identity
and diaspora. Hall views cultural identity as “a production which is never complete, always in
process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation.” Cultural identity is not a
“fixed essence” but something that is constantly changing because we identify ourselves against
or within others and mediated representations. These representations can only occur with a sense
of difference. Hall argues that our identities are more than our shared history and ancestry.
Diasporic identity does not take on the literal definition of diaspora; it is not secured in relation
to some sacred homeland to which we must at all costs return. Instead, our diasporic identity is
“constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference”
because the conception of identity “lives with and through, not despite, difference; by hybridity.”

This source identifies U.S. parallels to post-colonialism and how it influences cultural identity
today. Like Edward Said’s Orientalism, this source claims that generalizing and stereotyping
groups of people is detrimental to society. This source is useful because it explains cultural
identity and diaspora in terms of society today considering the relationship of history and power.
I think that this topic is very relevant to my ISS learning. By acknowledging that every
individual has an unique identity and is constantly changing as history and power changes may
eliminate racism that continues to poison our society today. It is a topic that I’d like to continue
to research and highlight in my own studies because equality can only be achieved by addressing
flawed systems in society like education and healthcare and to correct flawed systems, it’s
critical that we understand cultural identity and diaspora.

#5.
Hochshild, Jennifer. “Social Class in Public Schools.” Journal of Social Issues, 2003.

In “Social Class in Public Schools”, Hochshild analyzes the pattern of class differences in
schooling outcomes and the causes for those differences. She argues that disparities in schooling
outcomes can be understood as deeply embedded patterns of inequality and the progress the
United States has made toward equal opportunity in schooling up until the 1980s has stopped and
perhaps even reversed. Hochschild highlights that “every student sits at the center of at least four
nested structures of inequality and separation – states, districts, schools, and classes.” Socio-
economic class-based advantage or disadvantage correlate highly with the differences in
educational outcomes. High spending districts report high test scores and low dropout rates while
districts with a lot of poor students, minority students, and students whose native language is not
English have lower average test scores and higher dropout rates. Test scores and dropout rates
are influenced by school resources, school funding, ability grouping, and “the deepest problem is
that too many students are poorly taught, and students in low ability groups – disproportionately
poor students, who are disproportionately of color -- usually are the most poorly taught of all.”
Hochshild asserts that class biases are closely entwined with racial and ethnic inequities and
“where it has been reasonably implemented, educating poor children with students who are more
privileged, or educating them like students who are more privileged, has improved their
performance and long-term chances of success.” Our current public schooling policies reinforce
inequality, if we hope to provide all American students with equal opportunity we must change
the direction of public schooling policy.

The American people has realized for decades that the correlations between failure in school and
the structures of racial and class inequality go hand in hand yet our leaders have yet to do
anything about it. According to Hochshild, it is either too expensive financially or politically to
change policy but we need to improve our education policy to overcome racial domination and
class hierarchy that weakens our disadvantaged children. I agree with Hochshild’s perspective
and I think that her suggestions on how to improve the education policy is on point. Last year, I
studied the impacts of social class on higher education but never K-12 public schooling. As a
mother of two children who have yet to start elementary school and as a responsible citizen who
wants all American children to succeed, I believe there can’t be enough advocacy for better
public school education so I will continue my studies into education policy because intertwining
politics and the social science of public schooling ensures equal education for all American
children.