This option provides you with an opportunity to integrate race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and gender categories in the context of a major current event. Following these general instructions is an example; always reach out to your instructor when you have any questions.
Choose a current event that is making national or international headlines; your instructor can help you decide. It might be a story about an election, a natural disaster, the global economy, a highly publicized criminal trial, or an event in the entertainment industry.
Then, analyze how race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and gender intersect and impact the event itself, the coverage of the event, and the event’s results. For example, if you decide to look at mass shootings in the United States, you will discuss who the shooters are (race, ethnicity, class, gender) and how the media portrays them (race, ethnicity, class, gender) as well as the victims (race, ethnicity, class, gender), etc. How old are the perpetrators and the victims? How quickly was the media to cover the story? Who are the reporters (race, gender)?
