Whiteness in the Backwoods: Critical Media Literacy, Reality TV and Hick-Hop Music
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Danielle Ligocki, Associate Professor of Education at Oakland University, studies critical media literacy through the lens of liquid modernity. Her primary interests include how youth make sense of media and interact with it to make meaning, along with pre-service teachers and their understandings of what it means to become transformative educators.
Brad J. Porfilio is the Associate Dean of Research and Programs and Full Professor at Seattle University . His research interests and expertise include: urban education, gender and technology, cultural studies, neoliberalism and schooling, and transformative education.
William M. Reynolds teaches at Georgia Southern University. He has authored, co-edited and co-authored several books most recently Forgotten Places: Critical Studies in Rural Education (2017), Expanding Curriculum Theory: Dis/positions and Lines of Flight (2nd Ed.) (2016), Practicing Critical Pedagogy: The Influence of Joe L. Kincheloe (2015), and Critical Studies of Southern Place: A Reader (2014) and). He is editor of a series with Intellect Books entitled, Critical Cultural Studies: Toward Transformative Curriculum and Pedagogy and a series with Lexington Books entitled, Youth Culture and Critical Pedagogy in the 21st Century, He is also editor of the series, Critical Media Literacies. His current research interest is the politics of youth culture, critical pedagogy, critical media literacy and curriculum studies.
Type of Presentation
Panel submission
Brief Description of Presentation
This panel presentation discusses the ways in which critical media literacy informs and analyzes identity representations given in reality television and hick-hop music and their connections to the current political milieu.
Abstract of Proposal
From Honey Boo Boo to T.I and Tiny: What Reality Television has Taught Us about Whiteness
Danielle Ligocki –Oakland University
Reality television shows appear to have a limitless reach. Not only have we seen an unprecedented 7900% increase in the number of reality television shows on air from 2000 to 2010 (Ocasio, 2010), but the type of people who participate (for example, current and former presidents) and the variety of people that we see seems to have no limits. In this time of endless choices and shows that are readily available at our fingertips, what messages are we really taking away from these shows? What are reality shows teaching their viewers – specifically, their young viewers – about race and identity?
Hick-Hop, Dirt Roads, Camouflage, Lift-Kit Trucks and John Deere: Rural White Working Class Pride
William M. Reynolds, Georgia Southern University & Brad Porfilio, Seattle University
There has been extensive research done on whiteness over the last decades (Kincheloe & Steinberg, 2000; Sleeter, 2016 & Matias, 2016). During the 2016 presidential election, white rural identity became one of the cornerstones of Donald Trump’s campaign. Although the embrace of white working class was for Trump a lie, it did give white nationalists (alt-right) a sense of empowerment. Attempting to understand that sense of empowerment and pride, this presentation discusses the manifestations of White Working Class Pride through the analysis of Hick-Hop music. The historical development of hick-hop music and its connections to hip-hop will be discussed. There will be an analysis of representative examples of Hick-Hop including Bubba Sparks and Jawga Boyz to demonstrate the characteristics of Hick-hop. The connections among Hick-Hop, white pride and the politics of working class empowerment concludes the presentation.
Kincheloe, J. L. & Steinberg, S. R. (Eds.). (2000). White Reign: Deploying whiteness in America. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.
Matias, C. L. (2016). Feeling white: Whiteness, emotionality, and education.
Sleeter, C. E. & Carmona, J. F. (2106). Un-Standardizing curriculum: Multicultural teaching in the
standards-based classroom (2nd Ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Start Date
2-24-2018 9:50 AM
End Date
2-24-2018 11:20 AM
Recommended Citation
Reynolds, William M.; Porfilio, Bradley; and Ligocki, Danille, "Whiteness in the Backwoods: Critical Media Literacy, Reality TV and Hick-Hop Music" (2018). International Critical Media Literacy Conference. 14.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/criticalmedialiteracy/2018/2018/14
Whiteness in the Backwoods: Critical Media Literacy, Reality TV and Hick-Hop Music
From Honey Boo Boo to T.I and Tiny: What Reality Television has Taught Us about Whiteness
Danielle Ligocki –Oakland University
Reality television shows appear to have a limitless reach. Not only have we seen an unprecedented 7900% increase in the number of reality television shows on air from 2000 to 2010 (Ocasio, 2010), but the type of people who participate (for example, current and former presidents) and the variety of people that we see seems to have no limits. In this time of endless choices and shows that are readily available at our fingertips, what messages are we really taking away from these shows? What are reality shows teaching their viewers – specifically, their young viewers – about race and identity?
Hick-Hop, Dirt Roads, Camouflage, Lift-Kit Trucks and John Deere: Rural White Working Class Pride
William M. Reynolds, Georgia Southern University & Brad Porfilio, Seattle University
There has been extensive research done on whiteness over the last decades (Kincheloe & Steinberg, 2000; Sleeter, 2016 & Matias, 2016). During the 2016 presidential election, white rural identity became one of the cornerstones of Donald Trump’s campaign. Although the embrace of white working class was for Trump a lie, it did give white nationalists (alt-right) a sense of empowerment. Attempting to understand that sense of empowerment and pride, this presentation discusses the manifestations of White Working Class Pride through the analysis of Hick-Hop music. The historical development of hick-hop music and its connections to hip-hop will be discussed. There will be an analysis of representative examples of Hick-Hop including Bubba Sparks and Jawga Boyz to demonstrate the characteristics of Hick-hop. The connections among Hick-Hop, white pride and the politics of working class empowerment concludes the presentation.
Kincheloe, J. L. & Steinberg, S. R. (Eds.). (2000). White Reign: Deploying whiteness in America. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.
Matias, C. L. (2016). Feeling white: Whiteness, emotionality, and education.
Sleeter, C. E. & Carmona, J. F. (2106). Un-Standardizing curriculum: Multicultural teaching in the
standards-based classroom (2nd Ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
