Introduction. The “Labor” of Racialized Media: Stuart Hall and the Circuit of Culture

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors, first, outline the need to understand race and media (and their intersection); second, advocate for both media and racial “literacy”; and third, justify this book’s use of—and inspiration from—the pioneering work of the Birmingham Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies in general and the specific contributions toward understanding race and media from the sociologist and media studies scholar Stuart Hall. The authors then conclude with an overview of the book’s content and a summation on why scholarship on race and media continues to matter in our contemporary moment.