Ithaca College

On Wednesday, October 1, at 4:30 p.m. in CNS 112, professor Sharon Lynette Jones -- a faculty member at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio -- will present a lecture focused upon the representation of black women in popular culture.

When the New Yorker magazine featured a caricatured depiction of Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, it generated much controversy. The representation of Michelle Obama in the New Yorker as a militant revolutionary starkly contrasted with other depictions of Obama, which showed her in classic, neatly matching outfits, cheerfully smiling as she stood alongside her husband and children on the campaign trail.

The competing images of Michelle Obama reflect the complexity of our attitudes toward black womanhood in American popular culture today. Sharon Lynette Jones' lecture will explore the range of culture meanings that are projected onto black female bodies, with a focus on Michelle Obama, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Condoleeza Rice, and other black women who have been featured in movies and music videos.

The presentation will address what the depiction of these various public figures and celebrities suggests about our perceptions of black womanhood in American culture.