Diversity and Communication

JOMC441 wrap up

2009-12-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

After taking JOMC 441 how has this course shaped your view of the role of diversity in the media including: images, employment, access, coverage.

This course has certainly opened my eyes to the role that cultural, racial and gender minorities play in the media. I had always thought I was perceptive in recognizing and gauging stereotypes perpetuated by the mass media, but I never had an opportunity to explore the nuances of stereotyping before this class. Now, as I read the newspaper or watch TV, I feel like I am hypersensitive to the portrayal of minorities, their roles as characters and the images they represent. Now that I have taken this class, I feel like I am more educated as to why certain minorities are depicted the way they are and how the media functions to continually perpetuate these portrayals.

To me, it was especially disturbing reading about diversity quotas in employment practices and the current discrimination minorities are facing in the workplace. The fact that anglicizing a name on a resume to secure a second glance even has to cross a person's mind, to me, is an indicator of a terrible societal trend. This class has taught me that there are still so many racially fueled issues that exist and although we have made sizable strides since the Civil Rights era, we still have a very long way to go to be able to enjoy a truly equitable and harmonious society.

Cultural Center on Campus

2009-12-16T19:32:00.000-08:00

Please visit one of the following campus centers and blog about your experience there. Post to your personal blog.

The Sonya Hanes Stone Black Cultural Center is one of the foremost cultural centers on UNC’s campus. The center was originally referred to as the Black Cultural Center upon its inception in 1988, but was renamed in 1991 to commemorate a prominent faculty member, Dr. Sonja Haynes Stone.

I visited the Sonya Hanes Stone Black Cultural Center, more commonly known to students simply as the “Stone Center,” this past Monday to get a better understanding of the center’s mission and purpose. Written on one of the walls on the bottom floor of the center was the center’s mission: To "encourage and support the critical examination of all dimensions of African-American, African and African diaspora cultures through sustained and open discussion, dialogue and debate...". I had never known the Stone Center to be a place of such cultural dialogue, as most of the time I had spent in the building previously had been for drama classes and an environmental studies recitation.

Before examining the Stone Center with a critical eye, I had never noticed that it was a center for African-American and African diaspora discussion and academic debate. In fact, it was only until I visited the center’s Web site that I realized the intense ties it holds to African culture and society. There are no tell-tale signs of African culture throughout the building and up until this Monday when I went on an assignment for this class, I had no idea that it was an academic building distinguishable from others.

To me, the center feels almost institutional in nature, with hardly any characteristics setting it apart from other buildings on campus. Perhaps that was the goal--to create a center and site for research and education—but I feel like the cultural aspect is certainly lost, the intense cultural value going unnoticed by the typical passerby.

In Job Hunt College Degree Can't Close Racial Gap

2009-12-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

This article presented some very disturbing information and alluded to very alarming trends in public perception of race. The fact that someone would not be considered for a job for no other reason than their race is unfathomable to me. Perhaps I am naive, or maybe I'm just particularly unaware of racial differences, but I really find it disheartening that this kind of discrimination continues to this day. The position should be filled by the most qualified candidate. If that candidate is a white male from an Ivy League school, then fine. But if the best candidate is an African American graduate of a Historically Black University or College, then there is absolutely no justifiable reason as to why they should not be offered the position. Race is no longer something that should prohibit success and the people who continue to think differently are perpetuating an incredibly antiquated and convoluted view of the world.

The article suggests that this surge in workplace discrimination can be attributed to the public perception of Obama's presidency as being sufficient racial and societal advancement, insinuating that there is only so much progress the country can handle. This outrageous assertion is disheartening, if nothing else. Let's hope that people of all educational levels can realize the absurdity in that mentality and that Americans can transcend racial boundaries and develop a workforce based on merit, rather than on the basis of race.

On our campus

2009-12-12T17:36:00.001-08:00

The two most controversial statues on our university’s campus stand only 100 yards apart on McCorkle Place. The Unsung Founders Memorial, a statue of 300 2-foot tall black figures carrying a polished tabletop, and the Confederate Monument, memorializing the 321 UNC alumni who fought in the Civil War, are representative of two very different—perhaps conflicting—ideas. In fact, the Unsung Founders Memorial was only recently added to McCorkle Place in 2002, in response to criticism of the Confederate Monument, standing 20 feel tall since 1913.

The fact that they have been placed so close to one another is, to me, almost offensive. They represent such opposing ideologies and commemorate such different people that I feel like the decision of where to position them should have been more seriously considered. How can people be expected to pay the intended respect to the Unsung Founders Memorial without being bombarded by a 20-foot statue of Confederate soldier, Silent Sam? The obviously intentional placement and juxtaposition of these two statues is a blatant breach of respect for the Unsung Founders Memorial, making it more of a mockery than a commemorative statue.

The fact that the Unsung Founders Memorial is a 2-foot high table that people eat at is also disturbing. Memorials are supposed to hold the subject(s) in the utmost esteem, commemorating them for their contribution to society at large. It is embarrassing that the Unsung Founders Memorial is called a memorial. Despite potentially good intentions, the table…is a table. Something people eat off of. Not something people will inherently value for the subjects’ good deeds and contribution to the university.

The offensiveness of the statue has little to do with the choice of artist. Although a black artist might have been more sensitive in the design of the memorial and possibly wouldn’t have made it also function as a table, it is the location and positioning of the statue virtually next to the Confederate Monument that bothers me the most.

Farai Chideya presentation

2009-11-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

In her speech at the Stone Center for Black Culture and History, Farai Chideya spoke about diversity in the media and the rising popularity of the Internet as a means of communication for those who have previously lacked a unified voice in society. With the growing popularity of social networking sites and digital communication, Chideya explained that the current state of communication has become a hybrid of personal, face-to-face interactions and digital contact.

Chideya spoke about the Jena Six and www.barackobama.com, using those case studies to showcase how minority groups called attention to their grievances and motivations and promoted change through a unified, online voice. Chideya reiterated that the Internet is a free market, blind of discrimination.

The internet is bringing the world together in and is giving voices to those never before heard. The hybridization of communication between personal and digital is an exciting process and will serve as a powerful tool to unite people from all corners of the globe.

Portrayal of women in video games

2009-11-22T11:42:00.000-08:00

Describe how you would “redesign” women in a video game of your own creation so that they are not trapped by sexist stereotypes.

To be completely honest, I could probably count on two hands the amount of times I have played video games. When I stop to think about it though, I have two very distinct visions of generic female video game characters: one is a very distressed princess, waiting nervously for her prince to come to her rescue; the other, a scantily clad, fierce bombshell, saving the world from one bad guy at a time. If nothing else, it is interesting to note the enormous disparity between the two portrayals of women—they are polar opposites, and yet both still manage to perpetuate demeaning stereotypes of women.

While I am certainly no video game expert, I definitely see a need for a more accurate portrayal of women in games. As far as I know, typical women do not wait patiently in their rooms, waiting to be “saved” while their boyfriends ward off enemies in neighboring kingdoms; nor do they run around doing back flips, defeating their enemies with roundhouse kicks while dressed in skin tight leather bodysuits. For representations of women-- animated or not-- to be fair, they must be realistic. I don’t see a huge problem with women being portrayed as beautiful and/or thin, due largely to the fact that beautiful/thin women DO exist. What I do have a problem with is that video game designers assign women characters to unrealistic roles that either perpetuate the thinking that women are subservient, docile and dependent on men OR that they powerful and fierce because due to their intense sexuality.

Women are athletes. Women are scholars. Women are housewives. Women are employees. This is the reality of society and should be what is portrayed through all avenues of media. If I were to design a video game, I would showcase women in one (or a few) of these roles as strong, independent women capable of supporting themselves without relying on an overtly sexualized appearance.

James Arthur Ray's sweat lodge retreat

2009-11-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

The repercussions and aftermath of James Arthur Ray’s sweat lodge retreat illuminate the simple fact that he was not equipped to emulate an intricate custom based on Native American culture. His decision to host a retreat costing participants $9,000 for a weekend based on a purification and detoxification process used by Native Americans calls attention to the unabashed and inappropriate exploitation of indigenous customs and cultures for capital gain.

It is painfully obvious after the death of three sweat lodge participants’ untimely and preventable deaths that Ray was not capable, nor well-versed enough on the custom that he was emulating, to host the retreat and promote the “benefits” of the traditional practice. It is unfortunate that people seek to gain financially from traditional Native American rituals, customs and practices and it is even more tragic when those practices are not executed properly, causing harm to bystanders and, in this case, innocent participants. The fact that Ray was an unfit and negligent leader in this situation aside, prior knowledge and understanding of the traditional detoxification process would have resulted in a much safer experience for participants. His lack of respect and disregard for fully understanding the process proves that he was only trying to benefit financially from the sweat lodge retreat and was truly exploiting Native American culture in order to do so.

Hotel Owner Tells Hispanic Workers to Change Names

2009-11-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

I find it morally reprehensible that hotel owner Larry Whitten would require his Hispanic employees to anglicize their names. I find his actions offensive for two primary reasons: (1) Names are the keystones of personal identity. Stripping someone of their name is, in essence, denying someone of their culture, personal history and individuality, and (2) Taos, New Mexico is a city engrossed in Hispanic culture, history and language. Mr. Whitten’s request for his employees to change their names is a violation of personal identity as well as an attempt to homogenize a city rich in heritage where divergent cultures are juxtaposed and enjoy a harmonious balance. His assumption that the hotel would be more efficient and successful with employees with typical Caucasian names insinuates that the hotel was doing poorly because employees had Hispanic names and spoke Spanish amongst each other. While I could see how business would be hindered if Spanish was the only language spoken at the hotel, I cannot subscribe to the fact that Hispanic workers in a town embracing Hispanic culture and heritage had anything to do with the hotel’s initial downfall. Simply changing employees names will not change the fact that they are Hispanic and have their own culture and heritage that they bring to the town of Taos.
I would really like to believe that Mr. Whitten is not a racist. Perhaps, as Juanito Burns Jr. intimates in the article, Mr. Whitten is just a Taos outsider, ignorant of the cultural landscape of the city.

Should illegal immigrants boycott the 2010 census?

2009-10-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

While I believe the current boycott of illegal immigrants’ participation in the 2010 census is well-intentioned, it has the potential to be seriously counterproductive to illegal immigrants’ best interests. Without census data, millions of illegal immigrants will lose representation and will actively be denying themselves of a voice by excluding their demographic information. Moreover, states with sizable illegal immigrant populations will risk losing electoral representation –and therefore funding for public services—if enough people refuse to participate in the 2010 census. Boycotting the census will do nothing but alienate illegal immigrants from society, ultimately draining funds, political representation and influence from communities with significant illegal immigrant populations.

Another essential dimension of the argument against the boycott is the concept of illegal immigrants as active members of the community. In my opinion, public services should be enjoyed by all community members, even those who are in the country illegally. Illegal immigrants often utilize public school systems and other public facilities, thereby participating and integrating themselves into the community at large. If illegal immigrants are encouraged to be active participants in the community and community services, I believe they should also be participating in the 2010 census, if for nothing else but than to represent the interests of their own demographic.

Healthcare, Race and Gender

2009-09-29T18:29:00.000-07:00

As health care takes the stage as the most debated issue in current politics and the issue of race somehow becomes intertwined in the dispute, the question of a causal relationship between the two seems almost instinctual. While some people vehemently argue that the opposition to health care reform is racially motivated, I believe that the opposition that has arisen over the past few weeks is due to the fact that healthcare is an inherently controversial topic that, no matter who proposes reform, will spark debate. If Hillary Clinton was to propose the exact same legislation, there is little doubt in my mind that the reaction wouldn’t be the exact same. The color of Obama’s skin was obviously not a factor that prevented him from getting elected and therefore sends a clear signal that America is not that preoccupied with racial issues as to completely reject a health care proposal on the basis of race.

The main issue here is the issue of health care reform, not race or gender or any other controversial topic that will only fill space in newspaper columns and instigate partisan debates. Perhaps I am being naïve and somewhat idealistic when I say this, but there would be controversy over any health care reform that inconvenienced anyone, financially or otherwise. I may be speaking for myself when I make this generalization, but the population does not care who proposes the bill, what color their skin is or whether they are male or female—when it comes to financial issues, especially those related to health, people just care how it affects them and their families and will undoubtedly oppose legislation that negatively impacts their own well-being.