Through the Lens of Whiteness: Challenging Racialized Imagery in Pop Culture

An essential resource for anyone who wants to enter the next stage of their antiracist journey—recognizing, analyzing, and confronting the perpetuation of racism in our visual world.

Images in the news, social media, advertisements, memes, websites, and selfies shape how we understand ourselves, our society, and our world. Even the images we don’t see have an impact on our daily lives. But images are not innocent. And we don’t have to be passive consumers. Our racial identities, assumptions, histories, and biases filter the images we absorb and affect how we interpret them. Are they problematic? How can you tell? Why should you care?

Situated at the intersection of critical whiteness theory and visual culture, Through the Lens of Whiteness: Challenging Racialized Imagery in Pop Culture teaches readers visual literacy tools that expose racist messages, conventions, and symbols in images. Authors Diane S. Grimes and Liz Cooney help readers understand these patterns more deeply with detailed analysis of vivid image examples and personal stories to dismantle existing biases and develop an antiracist perspective. Grimes and Cooney are guided by the principle that white people bear the responsibility for dismantling racist structures and so primarily address white readers, but also offer this book in the hope that it will be a powerful tool of resistance for all readers.

Diane S. Grimes is an associate professor of communication and rhetorical studies at Syracuse University. In her work, she explores the influence of organizational and popular culture on common assumptions about race and teaches students how to interrogate their own biases. Her scholarship has been published in various organizational and communication journals, including Management Communication Quarterly and Tamara: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science, among others.

Liz Cooney is a queer author from Des Moines, Iowa. Her work focuses on helping people communicate more effectively through valuing differences and navigating difficult conversations. She is a facilitator, executive coach, and keynote speaker, and has served as Director of Training for the award-winning professional development firm Tero International.