Media Representations of African American Men and their Consequences for US American Society (PDF)

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (Department of English), language: English, abstract: The work at hand explores the depiction of African American men in the media and the consequences these specific ways of representation can have on their lives in US American society. Without narrowing the topic down to one particular media type, the present work will focus on both fictional and non-fictional forms of representation, including depictions in movies and TV series as well as displays in the news. By doing so, it shall untangle the tightly interwoven web of both fictional and non-fictional depictions that ensnares African American men in an opposing, yet overlapping way.

African American men's position in contemporary US American society cannot be investigated under the assumption that their current situation results from a monocausal incident. Without confining the frame of investigation to one specific time period, the present work is oriented towards the most current research results, figures and developments available. As data availability depends on the topic of each subchapter individually, the general time frame cannot be narrowed down specifically. Also, as current events are triggered by various chains of causation, they can never be interpreted without being historized, culturalized and politicized. Therefore, they will be set in context, which might create the impression of partially exceeding the idea of topicality. However, the center of attention will stay on topical events that influence on-going developments in the US.