“Through the eye of representation”: On stereotypes and communication

Abstract

Abstract: This article takes as its reference and methodological model “The Spectacle of the ‘Other’”, by Stuart Hall, a chapter from an Open University textbook. This chapter teaches theories of difference and of the stereotype, includes a selection of images of the black body, composing a historical series of these images, and concludes with strategies to contest stereotypes. With a view to contributing to research and teaching in culture studies and communication from a decolonial perspective, this article makes a close reading of Hall’s chapter with a view to understanding how it can be read far away from its original cultural setting. It reviews theories of the stereotype read in Brazil and expands on Homi Bhabha’s reading of the stereotype in terms of fetishism; it discusses the photograph that closes Hall’s text as an illustration of the most effective way of contesting stereotypes, “seeing through the eye of representation.” In addition, “The Spectacle of the ‘Other’” is read as both in tune with and removed from Brazilian cultural history and we suggest the inclusion of the ethnographic exhibitions known as “human zoos”, as part of the history of mass culture that forms the basis for our discussions of media and communication theory and of racism. The article fleshes out the decolonial esthetic Hall suggests and rereads Brazilian cultural history in a way that fills in a blank shown up by Hall’s text and, as a result, calls for a rereading of classics of communication and cultural theory from this new perspective. Its conclusions are relevant to teaching communication and cultural studies and to the research and critique of racist stereotypes.