“This is a complex question with no single simple answer,” Leonard said. “There might not even be an answer.”
If a question is unanswerable, then any answer would be questionable – which is part of Leonard’s plan.
“Once you think you have the answer,” he said, “that is a sign you need to ask another question.”
Questioning is central to Comparative Ethnic Studies 336. If something is labeled black culture, how does that shape its reception? How do popular media and society use images of blackness to perpetuate social oppression? How do black artists use popular culture to resist inequalities and stereotypes?
“We’ll also examine how black popular culture is discussed on the blogosphere,” said Leonard, who developed the course with Assistant Professor Lisa Guerrero.
Cathy Keller, a Distance Degree Program instructional designer, is working with Leonard to put his course online.
“This course uses many, many eReserve articles and articles in the online library database,” she said. “Also, in lieu of a text, there are links to 39 online videos in the course space and nine DVDs that each student must rent.”
Those movies include “Training Day” and “Bamboozled;” TV shows include “The Cosby Show” and “Chappelle’s Show.”
After getting the list of videos from Leonard, Keller checked online to see what students could watch for free.
“That’s always our first step,” she said. “Keeping the costs low for the students without impacting the quality of the course is always a priority for the instructional designer and the instructor.”
She and Leonard then collaborated on revising the list.
“Cathy was really helpful,” Leonard said. “She made the process very easy for both of us.”
The broad range of online materials fits the expansive issues, which Leonard summarized as “the ways that sports media, nightly news, television programming, Hollywood and mainstream hip-hop stereotype black men as perpetually dangerous criminals.”
When white athletes have drug problems, “the focus is on redemption,” Leonard said. With black athletes, “the focus tends to be on a past wrongdoing or upbringing.”
Leonard also points to TV cop shows, where black men often are presented as perpetrators, and to the commercial success accorded rap artists who talk about crime and violence.
“Our class looks at how black popular culture engages these types of representations,” he said.
Leonard, who is teaching his first course through DDP, said the Internet is a good venue.
“Students can discuss black popular culture despite being in a myriad of geographic locations,” he said. “I’m excited about the prospects of forming a community that is able to talk about and engage these materials.”
Leonard grew up in Los Angeles. In 1995, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He attended UC Berkeley, where he earned a master’s in Comparative Ethnic Studies in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Comparative Ethnic Studies in 2002.
