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Columns::August 26, 2002
Herty--Unplugged
Law school appoints three professors to endowed positions
Clinical and administrative pharmacy faculty member is named first Jowdy Professor
Former Boston College dean appointed to Parham Chair
Inside scoop: New ad campaign reminds forest park visitors to respect others
Twenty new Foundation Fellows, seven Ramsey Scholars enter UGA
Reef grief: Common bacteria kills elkhorn coral off Florida Keys
A tale of two centers
Kudos
Update: Private Giving
Coming and Going
Campus News
Professor takes issue with media’s portrayal of race, class and gender
By Sallie Barker
sbarker@uga.edu
“Films, television and media tend to define our culture as they interrogate our stereotypes,” says Dwight Brooks, discussing his
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| In the classroom, Dwight Brooks works to harness the opinions, beliefs and biases of his students, forcing them to face issues of race, class and gender as presented in the media through the prisms of their own lives. (Photo by Peter Frey) |
latest project, a book about Spike Lee. “Movies make statements about who we are, and no filmmaker does it more forcefully than Spike Lee.”
Through his writing, research, service and teaching, Brooks is making his own significant contribution to how we understand the role of media in contemporary American society.
In the classroom, Brooks works to harness the opinions, beliefs and biases of his students, forcing them to face issues of race, class and gender as presented in the media through the prisms of their own lives. And students love it. His popular class in race, gender and media fills within the first hours of its posting with students from majors across the university.
“Race and gender are contentious and controversial issues,” says Brooks. “I have designed the class to be a critical exchange among students, guests and me that challenges all of us to articulate and re-examine our beliefs on race and gender.”
Brooks is a born teacher, actively engaging students in this lively class. Students rave about the experience, readily admitting that they will never listen to or watch the media in the same way.
In addition to teaching and research, Brooks’s service extends across campus. One of his passions is the campaign to educate primary and secondary school students about media literacy.
“We allocate so much time and money to television and media, it would benefit us to be aware of what we’re watching,” he says. “Consumer literacy is a part of life, and we all understand that. Media literacy requires the same savvy, and we have to get students to understand that.”
Brooks also is active on campus. “As one of the few African-American faculty members on campus, I spend a lot of time advising minority students and their organizations. I do this because I understand their difficulty in a predominantly white college,” he says.
He recently attended a Poynter Institute seminar on diversity across the curriculum where these issues were discussed.
“Diversity has become such a code word that I feel people are offended and feel the need to be politically correct about it,” says Brooks. “Diversity shouldn’t be pigeonholed in a single class like ‘Race, Gender and the Media.’ It should be synthesized throughout the curriculum and not just left to a special course.”
The nature of Brooks’s work is interdisciplinary. It draws from social theory, speech communication, education and more. “My own thirst for knowledge is what I see in my students,” he says. “That’s one of the things I love about this job.” |
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