According to many pundits and cultural commentators, the United States is enjoying a post-racial age, thanks in part to Barack Obama's rise to the presidency. This high gloss of optimism fails, however, to recognize that racism remains ever present and alive, spread by channels of media and circulated even in colloquial speech in ways that can be difficult to analyze. This book seeks to examine this complicated and contradictory terrain while moving the field of communication in a more intellectually productive direction. The chapters challenge traditional definitions and applications of rheto ... More

According to many pundits and cultural commentators, the United States is enjoying a post-racial age, thanks in part to Barack Obama's rise to the presidency. This high gloss of optimism fails, however, to recognize that racism remains ever present and alive, spread by channels of media and circulated even in colloquial speech in ways that can be difficult to analyze. This book seeks to examine this complicated and contradictory terrain while moving the field of communication in a more intellectually productive direction. The chapters challenge traditional definitions and applications of rhetoric. From the troubling media representations of black looters after Hurricane Katrina and rhetoric in news coverage about the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres to cinematic representations of race in Crash, Blood Diamond, and Quentin Tarantino's films, the book reveals complex intersections and constructions of racialized bodies and discourses, critiquing race in innovative and exciting ways. The book seeks not only to understand and navigate a world fraught with racism, but to change it, one word at a time.