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An essential resource for anyone who wants to enter the next stage of their antiracist journey—recognizing, analyzing, and confronting the perpetuation of racism in our visual world.
Images in the news, social media, advertisements, memes, websites, and selfies shape how we understand ourselves, our society, and our world. Even the images we don’t see have an impact on our daily lives. But images are not innocent. And we don’t have to be passive consumers. Our racial identities, assumptions, histories, and biases filter the images we absorb and affect how we interpret them. Are they problematic? How can you tell? Why should you care?
Situated at the intersection of critical whiteness theory and visual culture, Through the Lens of Whiteness: Challenging Racialized Imagery in Pop Culture teaches readers visual literacy tools that expose racist messages, conventions, and symbols in images. Authors Diane S. Grimes and Liz Cooney help readers understand these patterns more deeply with detailed analysis of vivid image examples and personal stories to dismantle existing biases and develop an antiracist perspective. Grimes and Cooney are guided by the principle that white people bear the responsibility for dismantling racist structures and so primarily address white readers, but also offer this book in the hope that it will be a powerful tool of resistance for all readers.
“Diane Grimes and Liz Cooney's Through the Lens of Whiteness is the guidance good white people didn't know they needed. Wielding the perfect amalgam of data and anecdote, Grimes and Cooney fearlessly confront the "white ways of seeing" at the core of this unputdownable book. Through the Lens of Whiteness conveys a timely message of not only awareness, but of action and accountability, which makes it a controversial yet irresistible invitation for readers to truly see others and themselves, perhaps for the first time.” —Abena Sankofa Imhotep, Executive Director of Sankofa Literary & Empowerment Group and author of Omari's Big Tree and the Mighty Djembe
“Through the Lens of Whiteness is highly readable and hopeful, showing us how whiteness underpins our interpretation of images. Grimes and Cooney are generous and kind, clear and unwavering in exposing the white lens, revealing how it works against social justice, providing visual literacy to challenge white ways of seeing, and opening new interpretive possibilities more aligned with the ideal of a just society." —Jacqueline Battalora, attorney, professor, public intellectual, and author of Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today
Diane S. Grimes is an associate professor of communication and rhetorical studies at Syracuse University. In her work, she explores the influence of organizational and popular culture on common assumptions about race and teaches students how to interrogate their own biases. Her scholarship has been published in various organizational and communication journals, including Management Communication Quarterly and Tamara: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science, among others.
Liz Cooney is a queer author from Des Moines, Iowa. Her work focuses on helping people communicate more effectively through valuing differences and navigating difficult conversations. She is a facilitator, executive coach, and keynote speaker, and has served as Director of Training for the award-winning professional development firm Tero International.
Introduction
1. Beginning to Identify the White Lens
2. Through the Looking Glass: Reality, Culture, and the White Lens
3. Removing Our Rose-Tinted Glasses: Representation and Black Women’s Bodies
4. On a Pedestal: Masculinity, Race, and Threat
5. Your White Savior Self(ie): Social Media, Branding, and Humanitarianism
6. Continuing the Work
Acknowledgments
Appendix A. Glossary
Appendix B. For Reading Groups
Appendix C. Additional Resources
Endnotes