SSI1 115 | Imaging Blackness

The study of film is a key aspect of visual rhetoric, a growing area of academic interest linking film studies and rhetorical theory. This seminar focuses on the study of popular visual images as public argument. Students examine the political economy (ownership, production, dissemination), engage in a textual/visual analysis (what meanings are embedded), and examine audience reception of black film (how do audiences understand and use these media images). Students explore how these films function as public argument advocating particular views of black identity while contesting counter arguments as part of a larger agenda of promoting blacks and shaping US public life. Affiliate department: African American Studies.