Course Description

We are in the midst of a national reckoning with the presence and impact of institutionalized anti-Black racism in our lives. Politicians, business leaders and everyday people all across the country are asking what it means to stand for Black lives. To do so requires committing beyond surface level diversity and inclusion practices and digging deeper into how we make meaning with our choices for the images and narratives we use to create culture. Knowing how we engage in meaning-making as communicators is foundational to reimagining what meaning we can make to push our companies and cultures towards the vision of racial equity. In this course, we will examine case studies of meaning making across professional sectors including studies of entertainment, fashion, and politics. We will connect this to our interpersonal interactions across race in our professional lives, as well as in our work as communication leaders. By the end of the course, students will be able to more effectively articulate cultural messages and develop skills to help them create new narratives grounded in inclusion, belonging and racial equity.