Race and Reality TV

If you're looking for more reading in preparation for the upcoming Scholars Symposium, Reality Television, Real Worlds: Global Perspectives on the Politics of Reality Television, December 5, 2008 here at the Annenberg School, the latest issue of Critical Studies in Media Communication (Volume 25, Number 4, October 2008) is devoted to Race and Reality TV, edited by Mark P. Orbe.

Articles include an opening piece by Orbe, Representations of Race in Reality TV: Watch and Discuss, followed by Black. White. and a Survivor of the Real World: Constructions of Race on Reality TV, by Katrina E. Bell-Jordan; Performing Race in Flavor of Love and The Bachelor, by Rachel E. Dubrofsky and Antoine Hardy; As Seen on TV: An Autoethnographic Reflection on Race and Reality Television, by Robin M. Boylorn. Catherine Squires and Mark C. Hopson supply critical responses to the issue with Race and Reality TV: Tryin' to Make It Real - But Real Compared to What? and "Now Watch Me Dance": Responding to Critical Observations, Constructions, and Performances of Race and Reality on Television, respectively.

The issue is available from the Library web page.