The Post-Racial Mystique: Media and Race in the Twenty-First Century

Critical Cultural Communication

by Catherine R. Squires

Despite claims from pundits and politicians that we now live in a post-racial America, people seem to keep finding ways to talk about race—from celebrations of the inauguration of the first Black president to resurgent debates about police profiling, race and racism remain salient features of our world. When faced with fervent anti-immigration sentiments, record incarceration rates of Blacks and Latinos, and deepening socio-economic disparities, a new question has erupted in the last decade: What does being post-racial mean?

The Post-Racial Mystique explores how a variety of media—the news, network television, and online, independent media—debate, define and deploy the term “post-racial” in their representations of American politics and society. Using examples from both mainstream and niche media—from prime-time television series to specialty Christian media and audience interactions on social media—Catherine Squires draws upon a variety of disciplines including communication studies, sociology, political science, and cultural studies in order to understand emergent strategies for framing post-racial America. She reveals the ways in which media texts cast U.S. history, re-imagine interpersonal relationships, employ statistics, and inventively redeploy other identity categories in a quest to formulate different ways of responding to race.

Genres: Race

Unknown Binding

First published April 4, 2014

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read (which is just plain not true of most scholarly monographs) that sacrificed nothing in the way of scholarliness and research integrity to establish its popular appeal. In some ways this is a great example of what scholarship SHOULD be--thoroughly researched so as to have a positive impact for specialist readers and straightforward, enjoyable prose so as to be accessible to generalist audiences. The argument itself was certainly smart, interesting, and important; although, the central idea seemed a bit familiar--almost commonsensical. So while Squires's book is not groundbreaking, it certainly serves to remind us of some issues/ideas about which we might have easily forgotten and it does so in a manner that is pleasurable to read. Well done.

In a side note: I was a bit disappointed with the typically sterling NYU Press--there were far too many obvious typographical errors in this book (sometimes even obscuring meaning and/or providing distraction from the paragraph at hand).

[Laurie McKickass · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I am still working through this text (and selfishly looking for things I can use from it in my own work), I really admire how clearly Squires is able to write about the various and varying concepts that swirl around the phrase "post-racial." It sometimes feel like she's preaching to the choir, but this is definitely a conversation that needs having, and hers is a voice worth listening to in this conversation.

[Mills College Library]

302.23097 S77413 2014