With the rise of digital tools used for media entrepreneurship, media outlets staffed by only one or two individuals and targeted to niche and super-niche audiences are developing across a wide range of platforms. Minority communities such as immigrants and refugees have long been pioneers in this space, operating ethnic media outlets with limited staff and funding to produce content that is relevant and accessible to their specific community. Micro Media Industries explores the specific case of Hmong American media, showing how an extremely small population can maintain a robust and thriving media ecology in spite of resource limitations and an inability to scale up. Based on six years of fieldwork in Hmong American communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California, it analyzes the unique opportunities and challenges facing Hmong newspapers, radio, television, podcasts, YouTube, social media, and other emerging platforms. It argues that micro media industries, rather than being dismissed or trivialized, ought to be held up as models of media innovation that can counter the increasing power of mainstream media.
Choice Top 25 Academic Title How activists and minority communities use media to facilitate social change and achieve cultural citizenship. Among the most well-known YouTubers are a cadre of talented Asian American performers, including comedian Ryan Higa and makeup artist Michelle Phan. Yet beneath the sheen of these online success stories lies a problem—Asian Americans remain sorely underrepresented in mainstream film and television. When they do appear on screen, they are often relegated to demeaning stereotypes such as the comical foreigner, the sexy girlfriend, or the martial arts villain. The story that remains untold is that as long as these inequities have existed, Asian Americans have been fighting back—joining together to protest offensive imagery, support Asian American actors and industry workers, and make their voices heard. Providing a cultural history and ethnography, Asian American Media Activism assesses everything from grassroots collectives in the 1970s up to contemporary engagements by fan groups, advertising agencies, and users on YouTube and Twitter. In linking these different forms of activism, Lori Kido Lopez investigates how Asian American media activism takes place and evaluates what kinds of interventions are most effective. Ultimately, Lopez finds that activists must be understood as fighting for cultural citizenship, a deeper sense of belonging and acceptance within a nation that has long rejected them.
Since the early days of the internet, there have been questions about how emerging technologies might one day liberate or further harm communities of color that already face structural inequalities of racism. As reliance on computing technologies increases, it is also important to address questions about racial bias in the design of digital platforms, labor inequalities in tech industries, and digital surveillance on Black and Brown communities. This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and research on race and digital media. Focusing on the experiences of people of color in the United States, it explores the various ways that racism and white supremacy have shaped aspects of our digital world ‒ from the infrastructures and policies that support technological development, to algorithms and the collection of data, to the interfaces that shape engagement. Yet it also reveals how communities of color have deployed digital media in ways that expand the public sphere, contest the status quo, and give voice to creativity and joy. Race and Digital Media provides an essential resource for students of communication, media, technology, and society. It shows how to make sense of our ever-changing digital media landscape in a way that centers the continued impact of institutionalized racism and the potential for anti-racist futures.
Choice Top 25 Academic Title How activists and minority communities use media to facilitate social change and achieve cultural citizenship. Among the most well-known YouTubers are a cadre of talented Asian American performers, including comedian Ryan Higa and makeup artist Michelle Phan. Yet beneath the sheen of these online success stories lies a problem—Asian Americans remain sorely underrepresented in mainstream film and television. When they do appear on screen, they are often relegated to demeaning stereotypes such as the comical foreigner, the sexy girlfriend, or the martial arts villain. The story that remains untold is that as long as these inequities have existed, Asian Americans have been fighting back—joining together to protest offensive imagery, support Asian American actors and industry workers, and make their voices heard. Providing a cultural history and ethnography, Asian American Media Activism assesses everything from grassroots collectives in the 1970s up to contemporary engagements by fan groups, advertising agencies, and users on YouTube and Twitter. In linking these different forms of activism, Lori Kido Lopez investigates how Asian American media activism takes place and evaluates what kinds of interventions are most effective. Ultimately, Lopez finds that activists must be understood as fighting for cultural citizenship, a deeper sense of belonging and acceptance within a nation that has long rejected them.
With the rise of digital tools used for media entrepreneurship, media outlets staffed by only one or two individuals and targeted to niche and super-niche audiences are developing across a wide range of platforms. Minority communities such as immigrants and refugees have long been pioneers in this space, operating ethnic media outlets with limited staff and funding to produce content that is relevant and accessible to their specific community. Micro Media Industries explores the specific case of Hmong American media, showing how an extremely small population can maintain a robust and thriving media ecology in spite of resource limitations and an inability to scale up. Based on six years of fieldwork in Hmong American communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California, it analyzes the unique opportunities and challenges facing Hmong newspapers, radio, television, podcasts, YouTube, social media, and other emerging platforms. It argues that micro media industries, rather than being dismissed or trivialized, ought to be held up as models of media innovation that can counter the increasing power of mainstream media.
Since the early days of the internet, there have been questions about how emerging technologies might one day liberate or further harm communities of color that already face structural inequalities of racism. As reliance on computing technologies increases, it is also important to address questions about racial bias in the design of digital platforms, labor inequalities in tech industries, and digital surveillance on Black and Brown communities. This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and research on race and digital media. Focusing on the experiences of people of color in the United States, it explores the various ways that racism and white supremacy have shaped aspects of our digital world ‒ from the infrastructures and policies that support technological development, to algorithms and the collection of data, to the interfaces that shape engagement. Yet it also reveals how communities of color have deployed digital media in ways that expand the public sphere, contest the status quo, and give voice to creativity and joy. Race and Digital Media provides an essential resource for students of communication, media, technology, and society. It shows how to make sense of our ever-changing digital media landscape in a way that centers the continued impact of institutionalized racism and the potential for anti-racist futures.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.