ESSAY PROMPT: How do the constructions of gender and class identity inform the representation of ”race” and the racialization of the body? Consider Derrida’s concept of difference/deconstruction.
– I would like you to argue a point, please do not summarize research articles but use them as proof of your arguments. There is no minimum required resources but I would like you to use at least 3-5 to support your argument and situate them academically.
– This course is on semiotics so please be sure to refer to Theorists like Saussure, Barthes, and Foucault (all info needed can be found within the textbook) and their concepts like sign, signifier, signified, denotation, connotation, myth, discourse, discursive, etc.
– Please take a feminist perspective and specifically look at how Black women’s bodies are socially constructed through Derrida’s concept of difference (i.e. Black women lack the same notions of ‘femininity’ that white women do, white/European often associated to high class while pop-culture often includes hip-hop and certain fashion trends that are referred to as ‘ghetto’ and ‘Black’ and therefore are low-class)
– Ensure to explain what the concept of difference is (i.e. meaning is produced through difference and “binary oppositions” and Derrida on deconstruction and the lack of neutrality in binary oppositions such as white vs. Black where white is the dominant ‘Us’ and Black is the ‘Other’)
MUST USE REFERENCES:
1. Stuart Hall et al. eds. Representation and Signifying Systems (this is the class textbook)
– MUST USE Chapter 1: “THE WORK OF REPRESENTATION by Stuart Hall”
– MUST USE Chapter 3: “THE SPECTACLE OF THE ‘OTHER’ by Stuart Hall”
2. Material Girl by Susan Bordo
Other references are up to you but please ensure they are academic/peer-reviewed (i.e. from Google Scholar) and in MLA citation