Race, Technology, Media (Undergrad)

Syllabus for Fall 2021

Course Information

Credit Hours: 3

Pre-requisite: ATCM 2325 or 3321[1]

Degree Plans: Prescribed elective for Critical Media Studies concentration, ATEC with Design & Creative Production, and ATEC BA degree plans. Counts toward the “Race, Ethnicity, and Culture” area of the Ethnic Studies Minor. Counts as an elective in the African American and African Diaspora Studies minor.

Instructional ModeFace to face (in-person), with asynchronous options.
Course PlatformIn-person in ATC 2.918; online via MS Teams and Box. Both are named “21F ATCM 4325 Race Technology Media.” I will add you to each.
ExpectationsEngagement with readings and viewings occurs weekly, including weekly discussion sessions. Other assignments will be due at various dates throughout the semester.

[1] A note about the pre-requisites: If you have had the pre-requisite waived for this course, you will need to familiarize yourself with concepts that would have been covered in that class. A list will be provided to you during the first week of the semester.

The Place Where We Meet

In-person discussion sessions are scheduled in Room ATC 2.918 of the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building at UT Dallas.

UT Dallas stands on land originally settled and occupied by the Caddo, Wichita and Comanche people. We recognize the history of UT Dallas begins with the forced removal of the indigenous people through the legacy of colonization.

The historic Caddo people were the leaders of the Caddo Nation, an organized confederacy of at least 25 smaller tribes. The Caddo Confederacy was active until the 1800s and numbered 250,000 at the height of their existence. The Hasinais were among the 25 tribes of the Caddo Confederacy. Tejas is the Spanish spelling of Tayshas, the Hasinai word for those who are friends. The Caddo Confederacy was commonly known to the Spanish as “The Tejas”. Texas is the English spelling of Tejas.

In 1855, the Caddo people were forcibly removed from the land they had originally settled and lived on for generations. They were relocated to the Brazos Indian Reservation, making room for the Peters colony. In 1859, they were again forcibly removed and relocated to the Washita River in Indian Territory in what is currently Caddo County, Oklahoma. The Caddo Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized tribe located in Binger, Oklahoma, which is made up of descendants of the historic Caddo tribes.

For more information about the indigenous peoples forced off this land by colonization, see https://multicultural.utdallas.edu/about-us/

Course Description

In this course, students learn about media and technology’s inscription within the histories of Western racism and colonialism; how structural racism affects technology development, the media industries, and media representations; and how race is articulated in media and technology. This course uses the methods of ethnic studies and cultural studies to engage our topics.

In Unit 1 we will explore foundational questions about race in the United States. In Unit 2, we will apply those questions to thinking about the ways in which race, media, technology, and science have been intertwined historically. In Unit 3, we explore current topics of relevance to the course themes, with particular attention to how media shapes our perception of these topics. And finally, in Unit 4, we look to possible futures, imagining relations between race, media, technology, and science through the lenses of film and literature.

Course Goals

In this course, students will

  • Understand key concepts in the study of race, technology, media, and science.
  • Think critically and analytically about science/technology/media, their use, and their historical development with regard to race and ethnicity.
  • Be able to perform close readings of cultural texts that address race, technology, science, and media, including but not limited to those produced through digital media.
  • Practice using primary and secondary sources and presenting ideas about race, technology, science, and media in written, verbal, and digital form.
  • Demonstrate the ability to produce critical creative work about race, technology, science, and media in digital media.

Instructor Information

I am Dr. Kim Brillante Knight and my pronouns are she/her or they/them. I ask that students address me as Dr. Knight or Professor Knight in our interactions. In addition to serving as the instructor of this course, I am the Area Head of Critical Media Studies (CMS) in ATEC.

I am also the project director for Fashioning Circuits, a Public Humanities project that engages wearable tech, domestic technologies, and computational craft. We meet weekly on Fridays and you are welcome to join us.

Ways to reach Dr. Knight:

Dr. Knight’s Office Hours

If you need to speak about this course, get feedback on an assignment idea, ask how you are doing in the class, talk about other classes, the CMS concentration, grad school, or whatever, there are multiple ways that can be accommodated. Nothing is too trivial.

  • Drop in Tuesdays, 3pm – 4pm, via MS TEAMS
    • Quick questions or check-ins via one-on-one video/text chats.
    • I’ll post when I’m “open” on our class TEAM and you can sign up by commenting.
  • By appointment Thursdays, 5pm – 6:30pm, on MS Teams.
    • Individual 30-minute meetings to discuss your progress in the class, the program, and so forth.
    • Book an appointment at
  • If none of these times work for you, please email me with a list of days and times you are available and a short description of the reason for the meeting. This option generally requires a few weeks’ notice.

Dr. Knight’s Contact policies:

  • I generally respond to email and other messages during working hours (8am – 5pm), Monday through Friday.
    • If I do not respond after 2-3 weekdays, check my email address and re-send it. If it was on Teams, make sure you sent me a direct chat, or if it was in a group chat or a channel, be sure to “@” me. Sometimes email falls through the cracks and I welcome the reminder.
  • Use official UTD email or MS Teams only. If you are asking me a question or telling me something on TEAMS, be sure to use the @ symbol and my name so that I receive a notification.

Required Texts and Materials

  • Hamid, Mohsin. Exit West. ISBN: 978-0735212206
  • A Netflix account or 30-day free trial (needed for the first week of December)
  • Selected chapters and essays, located on Box or online.

You will also need the following:

Course Policies

Names and Pronouns

Many people might go by a name in daily life that is different from their legal name. In this class, we seek to refer to people by the names that they go by.

Pronouns can be a way to affirm someone’s gender identity, but they can also be unrelated to a person’s identity. They are simply a public way in which people are referred to in place of their name (e.g. “he” or “she” or “they” or “ze” or something else). In this classroom, you are invited (if you want to) to share what pronouns you go by, and we seek to refer to people using the pronouns that they share. The pronouns that someone indicates are not necessarily indicative of their gender identity.  

Accommodation

If you have a disability that requires accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act -2008(ADAAA), please present your letter of accommodations from the Office of Student AccessAbility and meet with me as soon as possible so that I can support your success in an informed manner. If you would like to know more about the University of Texas at Dallas, Office of Student AccessAbility, please contact the office at 972-883-6104 or email: studentaccessability@utdallas.edu. Their office is located in the Student Service Building (SSB), suite 3.200. All discussions with them are confidential.

Everyone learns differently. If you anticipate challenges with something in this class, but you do not qualify for, or do not have the resources to seek an accommodation, there are still ways I can support your success. Be sure to let me know so we can creatively approach your experience in this class.

Attendance

There is no typical attendance requirement for this course. One of the course grades stems from “engagement,” including how you engage with course materials and class media, assignments, me, and one another. One way in which you can demonstrate engagement is to attend discussion sessions. However, I understand that the ongoing pandemic and the various responsibilities of your academic, professional, and personal lives may necessitate missing discussion sessions. If you can’t attend a discussion session, you can instead turn in a short paper. For more information, see the Engagement assignment sheet.

Online Due Dates

All graded work in the class is turned in online.  Reading annotations and/or viewing notes are due before the discussion sessions meetings on Thursdays at 1:00pm. Most everything else should be turned in no later than 11:59pm on the date listed, unless otherwise noted. My preference is that you convert documents to .pdf before turning them in. 

Late work

Due dates have been set both to help scaffold your coursework in a manageable way, and so that the TA and I can plan time to give you feedback. You should make a concerted effort to turn in all work on-time, in the format outlined on the assignment sheets.

Classroom Conduct Requirements Related to Public Health Measures

UT Dallas will follow the public health and safety guidelines put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), and local public health agencies that are in effect at that time during the Fall 2021 semester to the extent allowed by state governance. Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Executive Order GA-38 prohibits us from mandating vaccines and face coverings for UT Dallas employees, students, and members of the public on campus.

However, we strongly encourage all Comets to get vaccinated and wear face coverings as recommended by the CDC. Check the Comets United: Latest Updates webpage for the latest guidance on the University’s public health measures. Comets are expected to carry out Student Safety protocols in adherence to the Comet Commitment. Unvaccinated Comets will be expected to complete the Required Daily Health Screening.  Those students who do not comply will be referred to the Office of Community Standards and Conduct for disciplinary action under the Student Code of Conduct – UTSP5003.

 

A note from the instructor on masks: I will wear a mask for every single one of our class meetings. This is partly to protect myself (I am fully vaccinated, but have high risk factors; plus, I don’t want long covid), to protect my loved ones (immunocompromised and too young to be vaccinated), and to protect you (heck, I may be asymptomatic and spreading it; which is why I’ve also scheduled weekly proactive tests). This class deals with sensitive topics and you deserve my full attention in teaching the class. If I feel unsafe, or am worried about you infecting one-another, you will not get the best that I can offer you.  

So, I will wear a mask, every class meeting, for the entire time. As a courtesy to your fellow students and me, I would appreciate it if you do the same. The only way we will stay safe and get to have an entire semester of in-person classes is if everyone is doing their part to battle this public health emergency.

Academic Honesty

Academic dishonesty, i.e. plagiarism and other forms of cheating, will be reported to the Dean of Students. The Dean of Students office will investigate the claim, interview any students involved, and determine an outcome. Possible disciplinary action by the university may include failing the assignment, failing the course, expulsion, etc. If you have any questions regarding the proper use of outside sources or the distinction between plagiarism and sampling/remix/adaptation, I encourage you to meet with me.

Online Identity

This class may ask students to participate in various forms of public writing. Writing in public has several advantages for student learning. It creates a closer analogue to offline environments and allows for the creation of writing that is designed to be shared with an external audience, instead of only an instructor. It also allows students to learn from each other. However, some students may have legitimate privacy concerns about participating in publicly accessible assignments. These students may choose to participate in public assignments under a pseudonym, or assumed name. If you wish to request this accommodation for any reason, please contact me immediately.

Course Recordings

I may record meetings, or partial meetings, of this course, typically when we are going over assignment instructions and the like. Our typical class meetings to discuss readings or viewings will not be recorded as there exists a comparable asynchronous option for engagement.

Any recordings will be captioned and made available to all students registered for this class as they are intended to supplement the classroom experience. You are expected to follow appropriate University policies and maintain the security of passwords used to access recorded lectures. Unless the Office of Student AccessAbility has approved a student to record the instruction, you are expressly prohibited from recording any part of this course. Recordings may not be published, reproduced, or shared with those not in the class, or uploaded to other online environments except to implement an approved Office of Student AccessAbility accommodation. If the instructor or a UTD school/department/office plans any other uses for the recordings, consent of the students identifiable in the recordings is required prior to such use unless an exception is allowed by law. Failure to comply with these University requirements is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

The Classroom Community and Your Well-being

Our many discussions and online assignments will require vigilance to ensure that we are always preserving an atmosphere of mutual respect in which everyone is welcome to learn. Disagreements may arise and consensus may not be possible. We can, however, respect each person’s right to express an opinion and right to have the opportunity to learn. However, one’s “right to an opinion” does not include language or behavior that is harmful to others. Name calling, harassment, or menacing behavior will not be tolerated.

University Policies

Please visit http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies for the University’s policies regarding all courses.

Course Requirements and Grading

Grading Scale

See the Assignments folder on Box for assignment-specific grading criteria.

EvaluationLetter GradeDescription
ExcellentA+, A, A-Work that is thought-provoking and well-crafted. The work extends our thinking, or wades into new territory. The form and content enhance one another.
GoodB+, B, B-Work that is thoughtful and well-crafted. The work shows evidence of meaningful engagement. The form enhances the content.
FairC+, C, C-Work that is well-crafted, but remains superficial. The form connects to the content.
PoorD+, D, D-Work is neither thought-provoking nor well-crafted. The relationship between form and content may waver.
FailingFWork that is never turned in, off-topic, or out of alignment with the minimal requirements for the assignment or course.

Overview of Assignments

Assignment sheets with full details and instructions will be available on Box.

Engagement – 50%

Engagement entails preparation and presence, both of which include focus, specificity, and asking questions.

Presentation – TBD%

A presentation on a non-profit, community collective, activist, artist, scholar, or recovered historical figure. All topics will require instructor approval. Due throughout the semester.

Mid-term Exam – TBD%

A take-home exam on the concepts explored in Unit 1.  It will be posted to Box on September 26, and will be due no later than Oct 3.

Final Paper or Project – TBD%

A short research paper or speculative design project that looks toward the future of race, technology, and media. Due Dec 9.

Grading Policies

Grade Values

As you can see, the weights of most your assignments are not currently fixed. You will assign the grading weights, with the caveat that no assignment can be worth less than 10%. This is an opportunity for you to prioritize your strengths or manage the impacts of your calendar.

Freebies

Each student starts the semester with three “freebies.” Freebies can be used to skip part or all of a week’s engagement activities, or as grace days to turn in the mid-term or final paper/project late. If you miss an engagement activity or turn in the mid-term or final late, we will automatically apply any remaining freebies unless you write to the instructor to ask to save them.

Mid-term Assessment

You can expect a middle-of-the-term progress report that includes a preliminary grade in Engagement. For other assignments, please note that my administrative responsibilities sometimes mean it can be several weeks before you receive feedback from me. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Schedule

ATCM 4325: Race, Technology, Media

Weekly Schedule for Fall 2021

(Subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor. Always check Box for the most up-to-date version.)

How to read this schedule:

  • Weeks are Monday to Sunday, with discussion meetings on Thursdays
  • The “Prepare” section will help you get ready for the weekly annotations and discussion session. So, this is your homework to do before Thursday at 1pm.  
  • Media and art listed under “Explore” connect theory to examples. We will draw on these heavily in discussion sessions or engagement papers, but you do not have to annotate them.
  • Annotations are due each week on Thursdays at 1pm, regardless of whether you plan to attend discussion session or take the asynchronous option.

Unit 1: Foundational Questions

Week 1 Aug 23 – 29: Introduction & Course Overview

  • Prepare
  • Thurs, Aug 26 (online)
    • 1pm – 3:45pm Discussion Session
      • Syllabus Overview
      • Engagement Assignment Overview
      • De-densifying ATCM 4325

Week 2 Aug 30 – Sept 5: How do we assess our histories, presents, and futures?

Dive Deeper

  • Pages 3 – 12 of DiYanni, Robert. “An Approach to Critical Reading.” Critical Reading Across the Curriculum. Robert DiYanni and Anton Borst, eds. Wiley, 2017, pp. 3 – 23. (Box)
  • Shore, Zachary. “How to Read, Part 1: Dissecting a Text.” Grad School Essentials: A Crash Course in Scholarly Skills. U of California P, 2016, pp. 8 – 39. (Box)
  • Crenshaw, Kimberle. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” In Stanford law Review, 1991, pp. 1241-99.
  • Combahee River Collective. “Combahee River Collective Statement.”
  • Smith, Andrea.  “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Woman of Color Organizing.” Color of Violence. Ed. INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence,  Duke University Press, 2016.
  • DiAngelo, Robyn. “White Fragility.” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy. Vol. 3, no. 3, 2011, pp. 54-70.
  • Rothenberg, Paula, ed. White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism
  • Leonardo, Zeus. “The Color of Supremacy: Beyond the Discourse of White Privilege” Educational Philosophy and Theory. Vol. 36, no. 2, 2004, pp. 137-52.
  • Gray, Kishonna. Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming. LSU Press, 2020. (also addresses queer issues and disability)

Week 3 Sept 6 – 12: What do we mean when we talk about race?

Dive Deeper

  • Smedley, Audrey and Brian Smedley. “Race as Biology is Fiction, Racism as a Social Problem is Real: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives on the Social Construction of Race.” In American Psychologist, vol 60, no 1, 2005, pp. 16 – 26.
  • Delgado, Richard and Jean Stefancic. “Introduction.” In Critical Race Theory: An Introduction.
  • Harris, Marvin. “How Our Skins Got Their Color.” Rethinking the Color Line: Understanding How Boundaries Shift.
  • PBS. Race: The Power of an Illusion. https://www.racepowerofanillusion.org/clips/ (May be available through UTD library)

Week 4 Sept 13 – 19: Does everyone have a race?

  • Prepare
    • Read and annotate
      • Dyer, Richard. “The Matter of Whiteness.” In White. (Box)
      • Okizaki, Carrie Lynn H. “What are You? Hapa-Girl and Multiracial Identity.” University of Colorado Law Review. Vol. 71, no. 2, 2000. (Box)
  • Thurs, Sept 16
    • 1pm Annotations of “The Matter of Whiteness” and/or “What Are You?” due
    • 1pm – 3:45pm Discussion Session
      • De-densification continues
        • Last names A – G, attend 1pm – 2:15pm
          • Presentation: Gissel
        • Last names H – Z, attend 2:30pm – 3:45pm
          • Presentation: Xamin
  • Sun, Sept 19
    • Engagement paper due (if you did not attend discussion session)

Dive Deeper

  • Harris, Cheryl I. “Whiteness as Property.” Harvard Law Review. Vol. 106, no. 8, 1993, pp. 1709 – 91.
  • hooks, bell. “Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination.” Black Looks: Race and Representation. South End Press, 1992.
  • Lipsitz, George. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics. Twentieth Anniversary Edition. Temple U Press, 2018.
  • Ahmed, Sara. “A Phenomenology of Whiteness.” Feminist Theory. Vol. 8, no. 2, 2007, 149-68.
  • Baldwin, James. “On Being White…and Other Lies.” Essence. 1984.
  • Daniels, Jessie. “The Trouble with White Feminism: Whiteness, Digital Feminism, and the Intersectional Internet”
  • Feagin, Joe. “White Racial Frame.” Excerpt of “Ch 1 Systemic Racism” from Systemic Racism
  • Masuoka, Natalie. “Exclusive Categories: Historical Formation of Racial Classification in the United States” in Multiracial Identity and Racial Politics in the United States.

Week 5 Sept 20 – 26: Is race just about individuals?

Dive Deeper

  • Pulido, Laura. “Flint, Environmental Racism, and Racial Capitalism.” Capitalism Nature Socialism. Vol. 27, no. 3, 2016, pp. 1 – 16.
  • Feagin, Joe and Sean Elias. “Rethinking Racial Formation Theory: A Systemic Racism Critique.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol 36, no 6, 2013, pp. 931-60.
  • Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. “Resistance is Futile? A Response to Feagin and Elias.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol 36, no 6, 2013, pp. 961-73.
  • Golash-Boza, Tanya. “Does Racial Formation Theory Lack the Conceptual Tools to Understand Racism?” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol 36, no 6, 2013, pp. 994-99.

Week 6 Sept 27 – Oct 3 Take Home Midterm

  • Prepare
    • Review annotations, instructor slides, course materials, and your discussion notes or engagement papers.
  • Wed, Sept 29
    • 12pm, Dr. Wendi Sierra online talk on Indigenous Representations in Games, Hosted by The Studio for Mediating Play
      • Details on 21F 4325 Team / General channel.
      • Attend the event and write 300-word summary & reflection that connects to two Unit 1 concepts. Turn it in by Oct 10 for an extra freebie.
  • Thurs, Sept 30
    • No discussion meeting, use the time to work on your midterm exam.
  • Sun, Oct 3
    • Take Home Midterm Exam Due

Unit 2: Histories of Race, Technology, and Media

Week 7 Oct 04 – 10: Race and Science Histories

  • Prepare
    • Read and annotate
      • Content warning: violence against enslaved women
      • Kapsalis, Terri. “Mastering the Female Pelvis: Race and the Tools of Reproduction.” Skin Deep, Spirit Strong: The Black Female Body in American Culture. Ed. Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, U of Michigan Press, 2002, pp. 263 – 300. (Box)
  • Thurs, Oct 7
    • 1pm Annotations of “Mastering the Female Pelvis” due
    • 1pm – 3:45pm Discussion Session
      • No presentations due to midterm the prior week
      • LAST WEEK OF DE-DENSIFICATION
        • Last names A – G, attend 1pm – 2:15pm
        • Last names H – Z, attend 2:30pm – 3:45pm
  • Sun, Oct 10
    • Engagement paper due (if you did not attend discussion session)
    • Extra freebie paper due if you attended Dr. Sierra’s talk on Sept 29

Dive Deeper

  • Hogarth, Rana. Medicalizing Blackness: Making Racial Difference in the Atlantic World, 1780 – 1840. UNC Press, 2017.
  • Jackson, John P. and Nadine m. Weidman. “The Origins of Scientific Racism.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. No. 50, Winter 2005/2006, pp. 66-79.
  • Scully, Pamela and Clifton Crais. “Race and Erasure: Sara Baartman and Hendrik Cesars in Cape Town and London.” Journal of British Studies. Vol. 4, no. 2, April 2008, pp. 310-23.
  • Brandt, Allan M. “Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.” The Hastings Center Report. Vol. 8, no. 6, Dec. 1978, pp. 21-29. Word of caution on this one: lots of problematic language and assumptions, though ultimately an important read if you can stomach it.
  • Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
  • Fairchild, Halford H. “Scientific Racism: The Cloak of Objectivity.” Journal of Social Issues. Vol. 47, no. 3, 1991, pp. 101-115.
  • Somerville, Siobhan. “Scientific Racism and the Emergence of the Homosexual Body.” Journal of the History of Sexuality. Vol. 5, no. 2, Oct 1994, pp. 243-66.
  • Nguyen, Josef. “Painful Games, Sporting Practices, and Enduring Masculinities.” Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 60.5 (forthcoming Sept 2021)

Week 8 Oct 11 – 17: Race and Media Histories

Dive Deeper

  • Mize, Ronald and Alicia Swords. Consuming Mexican Labor: From the Bracero Program to NAFTA. U of Toronto Press, 2010.
  • Cohen, Deborah. “At the Border of Sight: States, the Civil Contract, and Bracero Program Photos.” Liquid Borders: Migration as Resistance. Mabel Moraña, ed. Routledge, 2021. Ebook.
  • Coutin, Susan Bibler and Phyllis Pease Chock. “Your Friend the Illegal: Definition and Paradox in Newspaper Accounts of U.S. Immigration Reform.” Global Studies in Culture and Power. Vol. 2, no. 1, 1995, pp. 123-48.
  • López, Iván Chaar. “Alien Data: Immigration and Regimes of Connectivity in the United States.” Critical Ethnic Studies. https://manifold.umn.edu/Read and annotate/ces0602-lopez/section/6d0068e2-d1ca-4c24-adcb-e8106f877821

Week 9 Oct 18 – 24: Race and Technology Histories

Dive Deeper

  • Hossfeld, Karen. “Their Logic Against Them: Contradictions in Sex, Race, and Class in Silicon Valley.” Technicolor: Race, Technology, and Everyday Life. Eds. Alondra Nelson and Thuy Linh N. Tu.NYU Press, 2001.
  • Sandvig, Christian. “Connection at Ewiiaapaayp Mountain: Indigenous Internet Infrastructure.” Race After the Internet. Eds. Lisa Nakamura and Peter Chow White. Routledge, 2011.
  • Mamdani, Mahmood. “Settler Colonialism: Then and Now.” Critical Inquiry. Vol. 41, no. 3, 2015, online. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/680088?casa_token=UjYLig3wzQAAAAAA:syuBCPc_lNEe392lro3fVyLzXmznSszrZKz0K4n_im78ZlMxvHmpgCJ5l-8v0o0td27TsrfEHw
  • Kauanui, J. K?haulani and Patrick Wolfe, “Settler Colonialism Then and Now. A Conversation.” Politica & Societa. Vol. 2, 2012, pp. 235-258.
  • Snelgrove, Corey, Rita Dhamoon, Jeff Corntassel. “Unsettling settler colonialism: The discourse and politics of settlers, and solidarity with Indigenous nations.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. Vol. 3, no. 2, 2014, pp. 1-32. 
  • Morgensen, Scott Lauria. Spaces Between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization. U of Minnesota Press, 2011.
  • Nguyen, Josef. “Digital Games about the Materiality of Digital Games.” Special Issue on “Green Computer and Video Games. Guest eds. Alenda Chang and John Parham. Ecozon@ 8.2 (Nov 2017): 18-38, https://doi.org/10.37536/ecozona.2017.8.2.1347
  • Vu. “21 Things You Can Do to be More Respectful of Native Americans.” Nonprofit AF. 9 Oct, 2017. https://nonprofitaf.com/2017/10/21-things-you-can-do-to-be-more-respectful-of-native-american-cultures/

Unit 3: Presents of Race, Technology, and Media

Week 10 Oct 25 – 31: Health

  • Prepare
    • Content warning: Continued trauma to black women’s bodies
    • Read and annotate
      • Campbell, Colleen. “Medical Violence, Obstetric Racism, and the Limits of Informed Consent for Black Women.” In Michigan Journal of Race and Law. Vol. 26, 2021, pp. 47 – 75. (Box)
  • Thurs, Oct 28
    • 1pm Annotations of “Medical Violence” due
    • 1pm – 3:45pm Discussion Session
      • Presentation: Phil
      • Presentation: Alex
      • Presentation: Worth
  • Mon, Nov 1
    • Engagement paper due (if you did not attend discussion session)
    • Note: The engagement paper is due Monday so you don’t have to turn it in on Halloween.

Dive Deeper

  • Bailey, Moya, Izetta Autumn Mobley, Nicole Charles, et al. “Open Letter to Editors of Journal of the National Medical Association from the Black Feminist Health Science Studies Collective.” Journal of the National Medical Association. Vol. 111, no. 5, Oct 2019, pp. 573-5. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2327312749?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true
  • Swansom, Megan L., Sara Whetstone, Tushani Illangasekare, and Amy (Meg) Autry. “Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reparations: The Debt We Owe (and Continue to Accumulate).” In Healthy Equity. Vol. 5, no. 1, 2021, online. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/heq.2021.0015
  • Nelson, Alondra. Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination.
  • Vedantam, Shankar, et al. “Remembering Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey: the Mothers of Modern Gynecology.” Hidden Brain. 7 Feb. 2017, online. Podcast. https://www.npr.org/2017/02/07/513764158/remembering-anarcha-lucy-and-betsey-the-mothers-of-modern-gynecology

Week 11 Nov 1 – 7: Borders

  • Prepare
    • Read and annotate
      • Jaramillo-Dent, Daniela and Maria Amor Pérez-Rodríguez. “#MigrantCaravan: The Border Wall and the Establishment of Otherness on Instagram.” New Media & Society. Vol. 23, no. 1, 2021, pp. 121-41. (Box)
  • Thurs, Nov 4
    • 1pm Annotations of “#MigrantCaravan” due
    • 1pm – 3:45pm Discussion Session
      • Presentation: Brittany
      • Presentation: Elizabeth
      • Presentation: Ola
  • Sun, Nov 7
    • Engagement paper due (if you did not attend discussion session)

Dive Deeper

  • Llamas-Rodriguez, Juan. “First-Person Shooters and the Racial Infrastructures of the U.S.-Mexico Border,” Lateral: Journal of the Cultural Studies Association 10.2 (Fall 2021)
  • Llamas-Rodriguez, Juan. “The Datalogical Drug Mule.” Feminist Media Histories, Vol. 3, no. 3, Summer 2017.
  • Llamas-Rodriguez, Juan. “Tunnel Risk and the Mediation of Border Security Spectacle.” The Routledge Companion to Media and Risk. Routledge, 2020.
  • Farris, Emily M and Heather Silber Mohamed. “Picturing Immigration: How the Media Criminalizes Immigrants.” Politics, Groups, and Identities. Vol. 6, no. 4, 2018, pp. 818-824.
  • Walker, Margath and Emmanuel Frimpong Boamah. “The Digital Life of the #MigrantCaravan: Contextualizing Twitter as a Spatial Technology.” Big Data & Society. Vol. 7, no. 2, 2020, online.
  • López, Rafael Alonso Hernández and Iván Franciscso Porraz Gómez. “From Xenophobia to Solidarity: Border Ethnographies of the Migrant Caravan. Frontera Norte. Vol. 32, 2020, epub. (Available in Spanish and English)

Week 12 Nov 8 – 14: Land

  • Prepare
    • Read and annotate
      • Karsgaard, Carrie and Maggie MacDonald. “Picturing the Pipeline: Mapping Settler Colonialism on Instagram.” New Media & Society. Vol. 22, no. 7, 2020, pp. 1206-26. (Box)
  • Thurs, Nov 11
    • 1pm Annotations of “Picturing the Pipeline” due
    • 1pm – 3:45pm Discussion Session – Ray leads discussion
      • Presentation: Brendan
      • Presentation: Hayden
      • Presentation: Labiba
    • Last day to turn in optional proposal for the Final
  • Sun, Nov 14
    • Engagement paper due (if you did not attend discussion session)

Dive Deeper

  • Bosworth, Kai. “They’re Treating Us Like Indians! Ecologies of Property and Race in North American Pipeline Populism.” Antipode. Vol. 53, no. 3, 2021, pp. 665-85.
  • Spiegel, Samuel J. et. al. “Visual Storytelling, Intergenerational Environmental Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty: Exploring Images and Stories amid a Contested Oil Pipeline Project.” Environmental Research and Public Health. Vol. 17, no. 7, 2020, pp.
  • Galloway, Kate. “The Aurality of Pipeline Politics and Listening for Nacreous Clouds: Voicing Indigenous Ecological Knowledge in Tanya Tagaq’s Animism and Retribution.”
  • Moore, Ellen. Journalism, Politics, and the Dakota Access Pipeline. Routledge, 2019.
  • Moreton-Robinson, Aileen. The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. U of Minnesota Press, 2015.
  • Estes, Nick and Jaskiran Dhillon, eds. Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement. U of Minnesota press, 2019.
  • Tuck, Eve and K. Wayne Yang. “Decolonization is not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education, & Society. Vol. 1, no. 1, 2021, pp. 1 – 40.

Unit 4: Futures of Race, Technology, and Media

Week 13 Nov 15 – 21 Speculative fiction – novel

Dive Deeper

  • Anything by Octavia Butler

Nov 22 – 28 Fall Break

  • Wed, Nov 24 – Last day to turn in an optional draft of the final

Week 14 Nov 29 – Dec 5 Speculative fiction – film

  • Prepare
  • Thurs, Dec 2
    • 1pm Asynchronous Collaborative note taking on “Advantageous” due
    • 1pm – 3:45pm Discussion Session
      • Screening: Advantageous
  • Sun, Dec 5
    • Engagement paper due (if you did not attend discussion session)

Dive Deeper

  • Bristol, Stefon, dir. See You Yesterday. 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, 2019.
  • Jo, Sung hee, dir. Space Sweepers (Seungriho). Bidangil Pictures, 2021.

Final Paper or Project due on Dec 9

Turn in analog objects to ATC 1.801b between 7pm and 8pm.

Upload paper or project & documentation to Box by 11:59pm.