Teaching

Tweeting into the Future

This course examines the ways that gender and race are influenced by technology and social media.



I Am (not) Whatever You Say I Am: Race and Representation in Popular Culture

This course explores the ways that race is constructed in U.S. media. Students gain a fuller understanding of the processes by which race is constructed, projected and reified through media. We also interrogate the uses of media in subverting and challenging racial hierarchies.



Miscegenation and Interracial Relationships

This course examines the history of anti-miscegenation legislation in the US. The goal is to understand how such legislation sought to keep people of different races apart and, in so doing, was a primary mechanism for creating and maintaining racial categories.


Constructing Race through Media and Film

This course explores the representations of ethnic and racial groups in US film, websites and television. Students gain an understanding of the ways media creates and maintains racial identities. We also examine the ways racial and ethnic minorities have used media to mobilize identities and argue for equality and change.


Ethnic Los Angeles

The objective of this course is to examine the ways multiple racial and ethnic communities have contributed to the cultural and political life of Los Angeles. We examine the vibrant, contested and complimentary relationships between various constituencies.



The 1960s

This course explores the political and social movements of the 1960s in the US. Students gain an understanding of the struggles for justice and equality that characterized much of this crucial decade in our history.


African American Rhetoric & Image

This course is designed to help us understand how African Americans have used symbols to construct and reconstruct images of themselves and their communities over time, primarily through music, public address, and media.


Identity in a Global Society

This course explores the way identity is formed and altered by contact with a global world. We focus on literature, music and other media as sites for identity formation.


Social Responsibility

This course is designed to explore the ways we are all responsible for the creation and maintenance of a socially just and equitable society.



Culture and Identity

The primary objective of this course is to understand the relationship between cultural practices and identity formation. We focus on texts which explore gender, sexual orientation, race, class and immigration.