Books in the Spectrum Series: Race and Ethnicity in National and Global Politics series

The book offers a way to explore the culture of politics and the politics of culture confronted by all native peoples.

"You''re fired!" became the catch phrase in the spring of 2004 as NBC''s The Apprentice captured public and media attention. Even though The Apprentice was not exclusively about race, it communicated and reinforced racial messages that are part and parcel of the dominant American ideology. No matter which minority group is represented, the media in America offer the same bill of fare: first, exclusion; followed by stereotyping that makes a sharp distinction between "good" minority members and "bad" ones; and finally, the telling of stories that justify racial inequality in American society. Media & Minorities looks at all these tendencies with an eye to identifying the "system-supportive" messages conveyed and offering challenges to them. The book covers all major mediaΓÇöincluding television, film, newspapers, radio, and magazinesΓÇöand systematically analyzes their representation of the four largest minority groups in the United States: African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Entertainment media are compared and contrasted with news media, and special attention is devoted to coverage of social movements for racial justice and politicians of color. Political communication scholar Stephanie Greco Larson brings sharp insight into how the white-dominated media do a disservice to all their audiences when it comes to their representation of racial and ethnic minorities. She gives us ammunition for decoding the dominant messages and then combating them, whether through political activism, "culture jamming," or the creation and patronage of alternative media. Larson encourages readers to fight the misleading media messengers, saying "you''re fired!" to media that undermine racial equality.

Asian Americans are emerging as a political force and yet their politics have not been systematically studied by either social scientists of politicians. This text brings together original sources on key topics influencing Asian American politics.

Since American Indians and Alaskan Natives are the indigenous peoples of North America, why do we fail to acknowledge them as having the first forms of national government? This work gives an introduction to the history, structure, and function of tribal governments.