Discourse & Identity III (Discussion)

Television on the study of race and ethnicity

• Group 2: Sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant reject the idea of racial essentialism and propose an approach based instead on a racial formation. Explain these concepts and compare them to the "gender identity" approach we discussed last week. Is there anything in the Girlfriends episode we watched that helps explain these concepts?
• Herman Gray identifies three African-American discourses in TV.
  1. Group 3: Explain what he means by the assimilationist category and why he puts Designing Women into it. Can you think of another TV show (one he does not list) that exemplifies this discourse?
  2. Group 4: Explain what he means by the pluralist category and why he puts Girlfriends into it. Can you think of another TV show (one he does not list) that exemplifies this discourse?
  3. Group 1: Explain what he means by the multiculturalist. If you've seen The Wire, explain how it exemplifies this category. Can you think of another TV show (one he does not list) that exemplifies this discourse?

Beretta Smith-Shomade

Beretta Smith-Shomade (pronounced "show-ma-day") examines "four intertwined elements in television comedy that define and give meaning to Black women's representation there: work roles, characterization, class, and identity" (48). Each group should discuss the key aspects of these elements and apply Smith-Shomade's analysis of 1990s sitcoms to Girlfriends (2000-2008):

• Group 2: work and class
• Group 3: identity: language
• Group 4: identity: skin shade
• Group 1: identity: hair
• All groups: characterization (i.e., conventional roles and stereotypes). Does Girlfriends rely on African-American stereotypes? E.g., "mammy," "sapphire," "tragic mulatto," etc.

Cast

• William Dent (Reggie Hayes)
• Toni Childs (Jill Marie Jones)
• Maya Wilkes (Golden Brooks)
• Joan Clayton (Tracee Ellis Ross)
• Lynn Searcy (Persia White)

All groups

1. List two strength(s) of analyzing (gender, race, ethnic) identity in terms of discourse. List two weaknesses of this approach.

Bibliography

1. Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Critical Methods and Applications (NY: Routledge, 2012).
2. Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, “Laughing Out Loud: Negras Negotiating Situation Comedy,” Shaded Lives: African-American Women and Television (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002), 24-68.

External links

• Wikipedia book: Girlfriends allusions
• Girlfriends illustrations
• "Infanity: Girlfriends," tour of the Girlfriends set by Persia White, local copy