Race and the Cultural Industries

Studies of race and media are dominated by textual approaches that explore the politics of representation. But there is little understanding of how and why representations of race in the media take the shape that they do. How, one might ask, is race created by cultural industries? In this important new book, Anamik Saha encourages readers to focus on the production of representations of racial and ethnic minorities in film, television, music and the arts. His interdisciplinary approach combines critical media studies and media industries research with postcolonial studies and critical race perspectives to reveal how political economic forces and legacies of empire shape industrial cultural production and, in turn, media discourses around race. Race and the Cultural Industries is required reading for students and scholars of media and cultural studies, as well as anyone interested in why historical representations of 'the Other' persist in the media and how they are to be challenged.

Contents Preface and Acknowledgements Part 1: Framework Chapter 1: Race and the cultural industries Chapter 2: Approaching race and cultural production Part 2: Media, race and power Chapter 3: Capitalism, race and the ambivalence of commodification Chapter 4: ‘Diversity’ in media and cultural policy Part 3: The cultural politics of production Chapter 5: The racialisation of the cultural commodity Chapter 6: Enabling race-making in the cultural industries Chapter 7: Conclusion References Index