Susana Loza, assistant professor of media culture, received B.A. degrees in Political Science and Psychology from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. in Comparative Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Her dissertation, "Global Rhetoric, Transnational Markets: The (Post)Modern Trajectories of Electronic Dance Music," examines the racial, gender, socioeconomic, and philosophical dimensions of digital pop music.
She teaches cultural studies, critical race theory, film and media studies, popular music, feminist theory, and ethnic studies. Her research interests include science fiction and horror; racial and sexual performativity; digital media and cybercolonialism; the politics of online fandom; power, privilege and cultural appropriation; and the resurgence of minstrelsy in "post-racial" times.
Her articles include "Orientalism and Film Noir: Subjective Sins and Othered Desires" (Southern Quarterly, Summer 2001), "Vampires, Queers, and Other Monsters: Against the Homonormativity of True Blood," in Gareth Schott and Kirstine Moffat, eds. Fanpires: Audience Consumption of the Modern Vampire (New Academia Press, 2011), and "Sampling (Hetero)sexuality: Diva-ness and Discipline in Electronic Dance Music" in Mark Butler, ed. Electronica, Dance, and Club Music (Ashgate, Forthcoming 2012). She has also been published in Popular Music and the Journal of Popular Music Studies.
Professor Loza is currently working on a project entitled Post-Racial Performativities: Race, Sex, and Popular Culture in 21st Century America that contemplates the fundamental role that racial masquerade plays in American popular culture and how Americans have historically used ethnic drag to simultaneously build and buttress the ever-shifting parameters of whiteness and American identity.
How does popular culture reproduce gendered identities and racialized difference(s)? By critically investigating racial stereotypes and hetero-sexist conventions within the varied field of popular culture (images, texts, and sounds), we can begin to understand and analyze how race and sexuality structure our desires and code our cultures. This course will employ Cultural Studies and Women's Studies to examine how the themes of exotification, hybridity, authenticity, cultural appropriation, essentialism, and liberal humanism circulate within the popular imaginary. In the process, we will consider the following questions: Can the consumption of popular culture be more ethical and active? What are the politics of production and consumption in an age of communication overload? What is resistance? Where is it located? How much agency does a consumer actually have? How responsible is the producer for his/her productions? Can gendered and raced commodities be used to explore difference? Or will their consumption lead to the reinforcement of sexist, racist, and homophobic stereotypes?
In the wake of Obama's historic presidency, the American media triumphantly declared that we are living in post-racial times. But is race dead? Are we color-blind? If so, how do we explain the persistence of racism and racial inequality in the US? Utilizing an interdisciplinary amalgam of Ethnic Studies, Critical Race Theory, Media Studies, US Third World Feminism, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Political Philosophy, and Post-Colonial Theory, this course will investigate how "race" continues to shape American society in the post-civil rights era. Topics to be covered include: the social construction of race, racial formation, panethnicity, class-based and gendered racialization, multiculturalism, neoliberalism, double-consciousness, colonialism, essentialism, institutional racism, commodification of race/ethnicity, identity politics, colorblind ideology, cultural appropriation, resistance, and citizenship. Particular attention will be paid to affirmative action, immigration, hate speech, hate crimes, reparations, racial profiling, and the resurgence of white supremacy. This course is reading-, writing-, and theory-intensive. Prerequisite: Division II and III students only.
This seminar delves into the dynamics, debates, and desires that drive pop fandom. In this class, we ask: What is fan culture? Does it build community? Are fans different from other consumers? What are the ethics and politics of fandom? What are the aesthetic, social, and legal ramifications of fan-produced forms such as mash-ups, remixes, youtube videos, and fanfic/slash that borrow, customize, and reinterpret pop commodities? How do such textual appropriations call into question the boundaries between high and low, production and consumption, intellectual property and fair use? Do fan-produced forms challenge or reinforce Romantic notions of authorship and authenticity? Particular attention will be paid to: the queering of heterosexist pop texts; the racialized and sexualized construction of masculinity and femininity; the politics of sampling, remixing, and mashing; and the role of the Internet, blogs, and social networking technologies in fan culture. This course is reading-, writing-, and theory-intensive.
Contact Us
Susana Loza
Assistant Professor of Media Culture
Mail Code CS
Adele Simmons Hall 200
Hampshire College
893 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
