Race, Representation, and Satire

Chrisotpher P. Campbell is a former professor at The University of Southern Mississippi with expertise in race and media, media economics, journalism, and cultural criticism.

The essays in Race, Representation, and Satire, compiled by editor Campbell, deftly examine the nuances of comedy's pursuit of the truth, especially when creators with firsthand knowledge of the harm suffered by various racial groups wield satire. Each essay investigates racial representations within creative works; the writers convey how those works are successful (for instance, Reham Bohamad’s essay on the depiction of Muslim women in the British sitcom We Are Lady Parts) or fall short (Campbell on Dave Chapelle’s recent stand-up work). With a rich assortment of cited scholarly works set against a diverse array of modern media, Race, Representation, and Satire is a valuable contribution to the body of media studies. In her thoughtful critique of an episode of the series Atlanta, Keli Dailey asks, “But who is this punchline serving?” (p. 15), a question whose saliency is effectively echoed throughout each chapter. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals.

• Part I: Satire as OppositionChapter 1: Atonement: What Reparations and Racial Justice Look Like on AtlantaChapter 2: #ColoradoBorderWall: Mimetic Discourse as EmancipationChapter 3: Reservation Dogs, Visual Sovereignty, Performative Indigeneity, and the Cultural Imperative of Native American-Produced MediaChapter 4: “Voldemort under My Headscarf”: The Oppositional Muslim Gaze of We are Lady PartsChapter 5: Class is in Session: Abbott Elementary’s “Step Class” and the Oppositional Gaze as Counter-Hegemonic PracticeChapter 6: Squid Game: South Korea’s View of Itself and the WestChapter 7: Alternative Media and Representation: An Outsider’s Construction of Race on The Daily Show with Trevor NoahPart II: Satire, Challenges and Missed OpportunitiesChapter 8: Just Jokes? Dave Chappelle’s The Closer and the Intersectional Challenges of SatireChapter 9: Latin History for Morons: Comedic Revisions and Race in the Work of John LeguizamoChapter 10: Guess Who’s Muslim: Using Satire to Show What “Islam Truly Is”Chapter 11: The Case of Kim’s Convenience: Cause for Celebration or a Cautionary Tale?Chapter 12: Missed Opportunities: Discursively Dismantling the Hyper-Wokeness of the Sitcom CommunityChapter 13: “Polo, Small but Tough”: Arab and Muslim Representations in a Volkswagen “Commercial”