Race as a discourse of power

Approaches for communication studies

Bibliographic Data

ID23019447
AuthorsLyndsey P Beutin (0000-0001-6311-2542, McMaster University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-05-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunication Culture and Critique (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-9137 • E-ISSN: 1753-9129
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/ccc/tcag019
OpenAlexW7162523474
LanguageEN
References cited23

This article argues that the field of communication studies needs to understand how race functions as a discourse of power in order to more thoroughly reckon with the ways that race shapes key concepts in our field. This article aims to clearly lay out for communication scholars who don’t “do race” how race has shaped European liberal modernity’s logics, ways of knowing, institutions, and practices. I do so by building a framework from decades of critical race scholarship to help us see why understanding race beyond identity and representation is especially important in times when liberal humanism is in peril. I demonstrate what changing our collective understanding of race changes in how we theorize, research, and teach canonic topics in communication, such as advertising, citizenship, rights, and journalism.

Discourse analysis · Field (mathematics) · Identity (music) · Power (physics) · Race (biology) · Representation (politics) · Scholarship · Interdisciplinary Cultural and Social Studies · Media Studies and Communication · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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Open DOIOpen Access