Abstract

This study examined how Black women’s buttocks are represented in R&B/Hip-Hop music videos. A cultural studies method was employed to analyze how Black women’s buttocks are presented and to discover what these images mean. In order to complete this cultural study, archival research and textual analysis were employed to interpret the images in the selected music videos. Through archival research it was discovered that the producers of these images are overwhelmingly male and non-Black. Ultimately, this study concluded that Black women’s buttocks in R&B/Hip-Hop music videos are presented in order to: (1) view the Black women’s buttocks in the form of a backwards gaze; (2) capture and film these women while they are dancing, more specifically shaking their buttocks; (3) expose the buttocks in the context of stripping, through the use of money and poles; and (4) presenting the buttocks with the purpose of insinuating sexual activity.

Advisor

Johnson, Michelle

Department

Communication Studies

Keywords

Black women, music videos, R&B/Hip-Hop music, cultural studies

Publication Date

2014

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2014 Erin M. Johnson