160:313: DIGITAL RHETORIC

SUMMER 2010

Race, Gender, and the Internet

160:313 MTWTHF 1PM-3:45PM E226 Adler Journalism Bldg.
The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor.

Objective
This course takes a critical look at the ways race and gender shape the uses and design of
information and communication technologies (ICTs). Beginning from the understanding that
ICTs have become part of our social infrastructure, the readings for this course have been
selected to encourage reflection on how the integration of ICTs into Western culture has been
affected or transformed by interactions with racial groups, with women, and with men. This
course is critical in that I am asking you to interrogate the assumptions behind technology’s
promises of efficiency, progress, and utopia – what are the norms and values embodied within the
artifacts we use every day?
Although the readings and our discussions will focus mainly on the Internet, it is important to
remember that information technology is much more than simply the assemblage of hardware,
software, practices, and people that make up our experience of the Internet. This course is
designed to encourage you to consider the explicit and implicit implications of technology
design, deployment, and use.

Materials
You’ll need to have the following texts and materials:
• Kolko, B., Nakamura, L, and Rodman, G. (Eds.) (2000). Race in Cyberspace. New York:
Routledge
• Everett, A. (Ed) (2007). Learning Race and Ethnicity: Youth and Digital Media.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Additional readings will be assigned in PDF or HTML format on the course blog...so make
sure your computer has PDF reading software installed.
• Computer with Internet access
• a Wordpress.com account

Class Format and Expectations

The class will be a combination of semi-structured lectures, discussions based on the assigned
readings, and learning activities. Dialogue is my preferred mode of instruction, so interactions
(class or online) between you, me, and your classmates is the key to getting a good grade (60%
overall).

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1. As a student in this class, you are expected to:

• Bring an open mind and critical perspective to the course materials and class discussions
• read the assigned readings BEFORE class, not during
• post required feedback to the class blog by the agreed-upon deadline
• complete assignments in a timely fashion.

2. As your instructor, I will:

• provide stimulating OR informative course materials
• actively facilitate class and online discussions,
• post assignments and readings on the web in a timely fashion
• provide readings where noted or at least tell you where to get them
• and give feedback on assignments in a timely fashion

Absences will only be excused for medical or personal matters; if you know you’re going to miss
class you should email me as a professional courtesy. I expect you to be on time, ready to discuss
the readings, and prepared to be open to and constructively critical about your classmates’
opinions and perspectives.
This course is given by the Graduate College. As such, class policies on matters such as
requirements, grading, and sanctions for academic dishonesty are governed by the Graduate
College. Students wishing to add or drop this course after the official deadline must receive the
approval of the Dean of the Graduate College. Policy governing students enrolled in courses
outside their own college or degree program may be found at: http://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/
deos/crossenroll.doc

Academic Fraud
Plagiarism and any other activities when students present work that is not his or her own are
academic fraud. Academic fraud is reported to the departmental DEO and to the Associate
Dean for Academic Programs and Services who enforces the appropriate consequences.
www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtm

Making a Suggestion or a Complaint

Students with a suggestion or complaint should first visit the instructor, then the course
supervisor and the departmental DEO. Complaints must be made within six months of the
incident. www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml#5

Understanding Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment subverts the mission of the University and threatens the well-being of
students, faculty, and staff. www.sexualharassment.uiowa.edu

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Reacting Safely to Severe Weather

In severe weather, the class members will seek shelter in the innermost part of the building, if
possible at the lowest level, staying clear of windows and free-standing expanses. (Operations
Manual 16.14.i.)

Accommodations for Disabilities

It is my desire and responsibility to fully include persons with disabilities in this course. Students
seeking academic accommodations should register with Student Disability Services and meet
privately with the course instructor to make particular arrangements. (www.uiowa.edu/~sds/)

Grading

Assignments %age of Total Grade

IT Biography 15%

Portfolio - Reading Reflections and 40%

Responses

Media/Web Evaluation 25%

Class Participation and Attendance 20%

Assignments
IT Biography

Part One: Introduce yourself and your experiences with technology

Due Date: posted to class blog (tagged “IT Biography”) by Tuesday, May 19
Part Two: Reflect on how your gender, race, and class affect your use and beliefs in
technology (note: “they haven’t” is an automatic failure)
Due Date: posted to class blog by Saturday, June 5
Reading Reflections and Responses

Reflection posted to the blog by 11:59 PM

Individual responses/comments by 12pm next day
• (Late reflections and responses will be deleted)

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New Media/website evaluation

Due Dates: Topic and Abstract – Wednesday, May 26
Preliminary Source List – Friday, May 28
Final Project – Friday, June 4

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Course Calendar

Technology, Society, Culture

Sunday, May 16

Assignment: Join course blog

Post IT biography to course blog as an individual post

Monday, May 17

Assignment: Daily Responses for week of May 18

Discussion: Course Expectations, Technology Expectations, Student Input

How does this video articulate race, gender, heterosexuality,

heteronormativity, and technology?
What is technology? How is technology best understood - as an artifact, a
metaphor, or a practice? Of those three, which comes first and who
decides?

Readings: The syllabus

The blog
ICT biography
Platinum Life

Tuesday, May 18

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Today’s Eglash, R. (2002) Race, sex, and nerds: From Black geeks to Asian-
Readings: American hipsters. Social Text [UIowa Infolink]
McDonough, J. (1999) Designer selves: Construction of technologically
mediated identity in graphical, multi-user environments. JASIS [UIowa
Infolink]
Leonard, D. (2009) Young, Black (& Brown) and don’t give a fuck:
Virtual gangstas in the era of state violence. Cultural Studies <=>Critical
Methodologies 9, p. 248. [UIowa Infolink]
Galloway, B. (2010, May 11) ‘Brink’: No girls allowed. Kotaku.
www.kotaku.com Available from http://kotaku.com/5536297/brink-no-
girls-allowed
Note: read the comments on the Kotaku article

Wednesday, May 19

Discussion: Identity, Critical Race, Intersectionality

Readings: Obadike, K. (2001) Blackness for sale. Available from http://

obadike.tripod.com/ebay.html
Stryker, C. (2010, May 12) Meme tracker: High Expectations Asian
Father Does Not Approve (Pictures). Urlesque. Available from http://
www.urlesque.com/2010/05/12/high-expectations-asian-father-pictures/
Sienna (2010, May 2) Swagger Wagon. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-
N3F1FhW4
Goffman, I. (1959) Introduction. Presentation of self in everyday life. New
York: Doubleday and Co. pp. 1-12 [Course Blog]
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity
politics, and violence against women of color Stanford Law Review 43, 6
(July), pp. 1241-1299. Available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039
Winant, H. (2000) Race and race theory. Annual Review of Sociology
26:169–85. Available from http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/marilynm/
Theorizing_Black_America_Syllabus_files/race_and_Race_Theory.pdf

Thursday, May 20

Discussion: Critical Race Theory and Critical Whiteness

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Readings: Newitz, A. (2010, May 12) Portraits in posthumanity: Aimee Mullins. IO9.
Available from http://io9.com/5535730/portraits-in-posthumanity-aimee-
mullins
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com and http://amren.com
Wiegman, R. (1999) Whiteness studies and the paradox of particularity.
Boundary 2, 26, 3. pp. 115-150 [Uiowa Infolink]
Dyer, R. (1997) The matter of whiteness. White. London: Routledge
[COURSE BLOG]
Bloom, L. (1994) Constructing whiteness: Popular Science and National
Geographic in the age of multiculturalism. Configurations 2, 1. pp. 15-32
[UIowa Infolink]

Friday, May 21

Discussion: Structural approaches to social construction of identity

Readings: www.stuffblackpeoplehate.com
Bourdieu, P. (1989) Social space and symbolic power. Sociological
Theory 7, 1. pp. 14-25 [UIowa Infolink]
Scheurich, J. and Young, M. (1997) Coloring epistemologies: Are our
research epistemologies racially biased? Educational Researcher 26, 4
(May). pp. 4-16. Available from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1176879
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980) “Metaphors we live by”. In M. O’Brien
(2005) Language and Culture Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 103-114 [Course
Blog]
Pacey, A. (1983). The culture of technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press. Pp. 1-34 [UIowa Infolink]

Monday, May 24

Interlude: Internet Research

Discussion: What exactly is the Internet? Is it hardware? Software? People? How do

you study it?

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Readings: Jones, S. (1998). Studying the Web: Intricacies and Issues. Doing
Online Research. 1-28 [Course Blog]
Kendall, L. (1998). Recontextualizing Cyberspace: Methodological
Considerations for On-Line Research. Doing Online Research 57-74
[Course Blog]
Mitra, A. and Cohen, E. (1998). Analyzing the Web: Directions and
Challenges. Doing Online Research 179-202 [Course Blog]
Nakamura, L. (2006) Cultural difference, Theory, and Cyberculture
Studies. Critical Cyberculture Studies [Course Blog]

Assignment: Discuss Media/Web Evaluation Process

Tuesday, May 25

Linking Technology and Culture

Readings: Kirkpatrick, G. (2007) Critical technology: a social theory of personal

computing. pp. vii-24 [Course blog]
Warshauer, M. (2000) Language, identity, and the Internet. [Race in
Cyberspace]
Carey, J. and Quirk, J. (1989) The mythos of the electronic revolution. In
James Carey (ed) Communication as Culture, Revised Edition: Essays on
Media and Society. pp. 87-109

Wednesday, May 26

Readings: Matei, S. and Ball-Rokeach, S.J. (1999) Belonging in ethnic, geographic,

and Internet spaces. [Course Blog]
Washington, D. (2005) Virtual communities and the discourse of
Blackness in the Afro-Latin diaspora. [Course Blog]
Thomas, D. (2007) KPK, Inc.: Race, nation, and emergent culture in
online games. [Everett]

Assignment: Topic and Abstract: New Media/Web evaluation

Thursday, May 27

Discussion: How does American identity configure the Internet? What are the default
values for American identity?

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Readings: Dinerstein, J. (2006) Technology and its discontents: on the verge of the
posthuman. American Quarterly 58, 3 pp. 569 [UIowa Infolink]
Taborn, T. (2007) Separating race from technology: Finding tomorrow’s
IT progress in the past. [Everett]
Sterne, J. (2000) The computer race goes to class. [Race in Cyberspace]

Friday, May 28

Discussion: Stereotype, Prejudice, Discrimination, Racism

Readings: Daniels, J. (2007) Race, civil rights, and hate speech in the digital era.
[Everett]

Bailey, C. (2001). Virtual skin: Articulating race in cyberspace. In

Reading Digital Culture [Course Blog]
Nakamura, L. (2002) Cybertypes – menu driven identities: making race
happen online [Race in Cyberspace]
Monday, May 31

Go away.

Tuesday, June 1

Discussion: Online Community and Online Culture

Readings:
http://multicultclassics.blogspot.com/2010/05/7659-social-networks-not-
social-to.html
Oldenburg, R. (2002) Chapters 1 and 2. The Great Good Place.
[COURSE BLOG]
Byrne, D. (2007). The future of the ‘Race’: Identity, discourse, and the rise
of computer-mediated public spheres [Everett]
boyd, d. (2008) The not-so-hidden politics of class online. Personal
Democracy Forum. New York, June 30. Available from: http://
www.danah.org/papers/talks/PDF2009.html

Assignment: Annotated Preliminary Source List

Wednesday, June 2

Discussion: Male/masculine, female/feminine , “gender neutral” – how do these roles

build and constrict technology design?

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Readings: Wajcman, J. (xxxx) Feminist perspectives on technology [UIowa Infolink]

Koerber, A. (xxxx) Towards a feminist rhetoric of technology [UIowa
Infolink]
Phillips, D. (2006) Cyberstudies and the politics of visibility. Critical
Cyberculture Studies [Course Blog]

Thursday, June 3

Discussion: Is there a default identity for the Internet?

Readings: Kendall “Hegemonic Masculinity” [UIowa Infolink]

Danet, B. Text as mask: Gender play and performance on the Internet.
[UIowa Infolink]
Chow-White, P. (2006). Race, gender and sex on the net: semantic
networks of selling and storytelling sex tourism [UIowa InfoLink]

Friday, June 4

Discussion: Unpack and Reflect

Assignments: New Media/Web evaluation presentations

Update IT biography post. Peruse your classmates’ bios to see if their
perceptions of IT and culture have changed.
Turn in Media/Web Evaluation by Sunday, June 6

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