Date of Award
Spring 5-13-2015
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in American Studies (MAST)
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Rebecca Hill
Second Advisor
Dr. Griselda Thomas
Abstract
With its multitude of sub-genres, larger than life personalities, and fifteen minutes of fame offerings, reality television has quickly changed the face and economics of television culture. This research examines the disruption of traditional roles of race and class in reality television. Interdisciplinary in content and methodology, this study uses Real Housewives of Atlanta to identify the ways in which various representations of blackness challenge hegemonic understandings of what it means to be black in the United States. Focusing on the fluidity of identity, "I'm Rich Bitch" highlights the role that popular culture plays in redetermining populist perceptions of blackness.
Included in
African American Studies Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons