taught a class on “religion in media and popular culture” at nazareth college this morning. we focused on islam and discussed ideas such as media oligarchy, orientalism, the power of images in a primarily visual culture, the role of filmmaking and activism, the very real effects of rhetoric in public discourse and the culture we consume on how we live as a society, and the dangers of a single story.
this conference is for high school students and it was interesting to see how they were split pretty neatly along color lines – not only in where they chose to sit and with whom, but also in terms of their views on everything. the black kids spoke at length about BLM, the black panthers, american empire, stereotyping and fear-mongering. one of the white kids asked me if i’d risk eating a few poisoned M&Ms as an illustration of why syrian refugees should not be allowed into the country. i didn’t want to be flippant but i told him it was a completely false analogy. refugees are not M&Ms and we have no intentions of eating them. we talked about how very few refugees have been allowed into the US (vs the million or so being hosted by turkey) and how the context of the war in syria (and the role we continue to play there) is an important connection to be made.
wish there had been more time to bring people out of their shells and have a more meaningful and robust interchange. so sorely needed. more about the conference here.