List of examples to know for MCD exam
Exercise 1 of the exam
Practical information for exercise/ question 1:
→ Understand why we discussed these cases in this course
→ Try to link these examples to other concepts we discussed in this course
Example:
,First class: introduction: what’s at stake
1. Miss Belgium 2018
● Angelina Flor Pua: Chinese- Filipino backgrounds
● She Won the Miss Belgium competition but got criticized a lot, especially on Twitter, since she “doesn’t
look belgian”
● Concept of othering and degrading
= people that separate her from the rest of the group: an in-and-out group, hierarchical and moving on the
basis on the stereotypes of Filipino culture e.g. Trans-boy
● Racism and digital media
→ speed has changed as the reaction was almost immediate as she won- news media were therefore also
picking up on the issue, and reporting on this racist backlash several globalisation and international debate
E.g: USA picked up on the news too by the next day
● Structural sexism- model as commodities
It is possible to book a Miss Belgium - so all it takes is a click to “have” her
→ These actions can be considered as objectifying but the course is aiming to find the nuance between the
feminist critiques, and the agency of the models to participate in the contest, and protest that during the
contests they are reduced to their bodies, but they also have to prove that they have symbolic capital e.g.
fighting racism.
2. Poster in Gent- City of Ghent promoting campaign
● Campaign based on the 2016-17 cases of racist, homophobic and sexual violence in the city
Aim: reinforce and stress inclusivity, so they asked promotion campaigns to work on something that represents
the people and invites them to be open
● Challenge structural racism
E.g on the housing market
● Inclusivity without assimilation
Assimilation: when you look at identity from a majority identity → those are the norms so we have to make sure
that everyone will act like that
Inclusivity: shared identity and look at commonalities that can exist in between → challenge hierarchy
● Use of exaggerations = problematic?
Every person is exaggerated, you don’t feel like the cartoonist is mocking us
Image/ representation on the poster : stereotypical
● Romani population? Criticism
Romani pop is not represented → will not be able to represent everyone but have to represent more a category
● Effectivity of such campaigns?
These acts are accompanied with structural changes: if they just stop there it’s just window dressing (telling
something but not doing anything) → administrations are diverse
, 3. See you in the next live- AB Concerts promotional campaign
● Ancienne Belgique – concert hall (Brussels)
● Currently closed due to Covid-19
● People in the video : Benoît Do Quang (videographer and artist), Ayco Duyster (radio host), Grâce
Kamashi (bar manager), DVTCH NORRIS (rap), Blu Samu (hip hop/rap)
● Main theme: looking forward to live music
→ these people all share their love for music
● “Next “Live” will be diverse and inclusive
→ shown by the website: black person and in big “Black history Month”
● Window-dressing? (= practice where companies/institutions appear to be diverse (e. g. in their
advertisements,...) but are actually not that inclusive when it comes to employees and people 'behind
the scenes'. Examples of this are Nike, Coca-Cola,...)
→ Attract other audiences, change their website,…
4. The Dutch Musician Boef:
● Real name; Sofian Boussadian
● Background: Algerian parents, his life is a rocky road: juvenile prison where he discovered music
● Became famous in 2015 - he is very popular (+/-1.332.000 listeners/month on Spotify, which is a lot
since it’s only in dutch so very restrictive)
● Has an artist persona which exaggerate certain element
They create images and play an important role in also showing others how some identities should be. The
issue is however, a particular mediated event, showing how issues linked to identity can explode.
● All started when: car trouble in NYE and one of his friends suggested another girl who could help them
out, picked them up and gave them a ride home
→ published a Snapchat about how he was picked up bey sex workers. Obviously, there was criticism, firstly
about the choice of language, and how he talked about the women as "kech" (= sex worker in arabic) . He then
responds to the video:
● Image of superior masculinity as part of his artist persona
Which is problematic because it’s opposed to commercial logics of an artist persona or to the sociocultural role
of an artist
● Criticism on the media was heated, mediated and polarized
→ Reaction of BOEF: apology the day after say that he didn’t mean it → didn’t change anything bcs:
● Consequences:
