COMM 560 - Communication and Social Justice: Whiteness

This course will explore whiteness, communication, and culture broadly. As such, we will explore how whiteness is interrelated with communication, rhetoric, culture, identity, ideology, interpretation, etc. More specifically, we will explore what we mean by “whiteness,” social construction of whiteness, white fragility, white identity, cross-racial dialogue, histories of whiteness, black perspectives on whiteness, James Baldwin’s work on whiteness, whiteness as a strategic rhetoric, rhetorical strategies of whiteness, white rhetorics of crime/prison, whiteness and media, rhetorics of white backlash/disadvantage/victimization/affirmative action, whiteness and the far right, and white anti-racism/anti-racists.

Course credits: 4