Reinventing black : digital media as a catalyst for changes in identity and social race perceptions of African Americans
(Book - Regular Print)

Advisor : Tiffany Lee Brown

Thesis (M.A.) -- Prescott College, 2010

Through an analysis of the literature on racial and social identity development, new media and cyberculture, the following study will show that a reinvention and re-articulation of social perceptions of race through new digital media would foster a realistic understanding of cultural relevance and encourage an accurate sense of reality. Racism and discrimination continue to be a problem within our society. Images seen on television and in movies perpetuate racism and discrimination through their negative depictions of minority racial groups like African Americans. Relatively little work has been done highlighting what individuals are doing to combat negative stereotypes that exist about African Americans in television media. The work that does exist tends to concentrate on how those stereotypes are perpetuated instead of how they are overcome. This following study utilizes Cultivation Theory, Media Dependency Theory, Uses and Gratification Theory and survey data to understand how consumers use media to meet their needs and the notion of new media as a catalyst for changes in social race perceptions.