Artifact analysis

Artifact analysis 

Final EssayFor this assignment you are to write an essay (6-8 pages) that analyzes a cultural artifact of yourchoosing. Your analysis should focus on some aspect(s) of social inequality that we havediscussed in class (race, class, gender, disability, sexuality, etc.). You should use at least threesources from the course materials. You may incorporate edited material from your proposalinto this assignment.Begin your essay with a description of your chosen artifact. Bring the artifact to life through yourdescription of it. Please be detailed and create a context for the artifact (think about Kellner’sthree levels). You will likely use edited material from your proposal for this opening section. Atthe end of this section, include your thesis statement, which should tell the reader what coursethemes you will focus on (such as gender, race, class, disability, etc.) and what argument youwill make.Following this, unpack how your chosen representation reflects the ways in which cultureunderstands the issue(s) of social inequality (X) you are focusing on. Use course readingsthroughout all sections of your essay.●You might analyze how the artifact reflects and reproduces dominant cultural norms andvalues. Show that you have an understanding of how your chosen issue(s) (race, class,gender, disability, sexuality, etc) are represented in dominant culture. Use coursereadings to show this. Questions you might ask yourself are: how is X normally orusually represented in dominant culture? How must our culture understand X to allowfor such a representation? How does such a representation contribute to how our cultureunderstands X? What kinds of cultural investments are secured by such a representationof X (for example, understandings of normalcy)? How does your chosen artifactparticipate in securing dominant meanings of X?●You might also analyze how the artifact challenges normative understandings ofdisability, gender, class, race, age, sexuality, desirability, etc.. Include a discussion ofwhat it would mean to challenge dominant representations of X, and how your chosenartifact is doing this. How is this counter-representation ‘talk back’ to or complicatedominant representations of X? How does this counter-representation create newmeanings of X?●Your analysis should make use of course readings and concepts from class anddemonstrate that you are thinking carefully and critically about the main themes of thecourse; namely, how media reproduces social inequalities and how media might be a toolfor challenging existing social inequalities.