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Mia Moody-Ramirez (born 1968 in Bryan-College Station, Texas) is an author, professor and critical race scholar.

She is the Director of Graduate Studies, Director of American Studies and Professor of journalism, public relations and new media in the Baylor University College of Arts & Sciences.

Moody-Ramirez received her B.A. in journalism from Texas A&M University, M.A. in journalism from Baylor University, M.S. in Educational Psychology, and her Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. Notably, Moody-Ramirez has researched missing black women, the independent black woman, racial profiling, image repair, and Black Twitter. and as an editor and publisher for two magazines and one publishing company. She has also served as an officer for three different divisions of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, a nonprofit, educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals.

In 2018, Moody-Ramirez was the recipient of the AEJMC Barrow Award for Diversity in Teaching and Research. The same year, she was selected to serve as a She was named the 2016 AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women Outstanding Woman of the Year. She completed the Scripps Howard Academic Leadership Academy at LSU in 2014.

Books

• Race, Gender & Image Repair Case Studies in the Early 21st Century (2018, Lexington Press) coauthored with Hazel Cole, Ph.D.
• From Blackface to Black Twitter: Reflections on Black Humor, Race, Politics & Gender (2018, Peter Lang) coauthored with Jannette Dates, Ph.D.
• The Obamas and Mass Media: Race, Gender, Religion, and Politics (2013, Palgrave Macmillan) coauthored with Jannette Dates, Ph.D.
• Black and Mainstream Press’ Framing of Racial Profiling: A Historical Perspective (2008, University Press of America)

From Blackface to Black Twitter

In From Blackface to Black Twitter: Reflections on Black Humor, Race, Politics, & Gender, Jannette Dates and Mia Moody-Ramirez traced the roots and fruits of comedy over the centuries to analyze and offer insights into the intersections of race, gender, and politics in humor that is by, for, and/or about black people. The ten chapters focus on how black and African American comedians of various periods used their communication skills and styles to reach professional and sometimes personal goals.

From Blackface to Black Twitter offers an introspective review of how, by the 21st Century, American black comedy, black comedians and comedy about black people had evolved worldwide, as the methods of disseminating comedic messages shifted over the centuries, from the word of mouth of African tribal storytellers to user-generated content produced on the Web. We focus attention on how, within the black community, communication morphed to include user-generated content shared on social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram in what is commonly referred to as “Black Twitter.” Twitter, which turned 11 years old in 2017, changed how people communicate and was especially significant for black users. The segment of the population, collectively known as Black Twitter, used this platform to drive visibility to discussions about black life and culture, led by those who know it best—black people.

From Blackface to Black Twitter: Reflections on Black Humor, Race, Politics, & Gender Reviews:

“I’ve always been a fan of black comedy. I remember, as a little boy, sitting at the feet of my maternal grandmother while she listened to The Jack Benny Program on radio. She laughed loudest when Rochester, the black valet played by Eddie Anderson, tested Benny’s patience with his dry wit and smart banter. I laughed a lot back then at the black vaudevillian comedy of that time and then even more as I got older and the ranks of black comedians grew. But back then I gave little thought to the things that motivated this humor and the impact the laughter these comedians brought us had on the social and political life of this country. I found that awakening in the pages of this book. From Blackface to Black Twitter: Reflections on Black Humor, Race, Politics, & Gender is a guided tour through more than a century of efforts, conscious and unconscious, to salve the wounds of America’s enslaved people of African descent and their descendants―with laughter. Black comedy, the authors suggest, is often an Afrocentric response to white hegemony and the insidious stereotyping of blacks by others. More than anything else, this book is about how the laughter created by black comics has been a key part of the existentialism of America’s black community. And in this way, it is part of a black survival guide that is still being written.” ―DeWayne Wickham, Dean and Professor of Journalism, School of Global Journalism and Communication, Morgan State University

“In this important addition to the literature concerning black humor, Jannette L. Dates and Mia Moody Ramirez provide a wide-ranging and comprehensive overview of comedy by, for, and about African Americans. For newcomers to the field, the appendices will be a welcome guide, as will the historical scope offered by this volume. The major contribution of this book is in the authors’ very timely and important explication of the impact of new social media platforms on the deployment of black humor in the early 21st century, by both professional comedians and by the general public.” ―Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University

Race, Gender and Image Restoration Theory: How Digital Media Change the Landscape

Race, Gender and Image Restoration Theory: How Digital Media Change the Landscape explores themes that are relevant to the socio-political landscape of twenty-first-century America, including race and gender representation, social media and traditional media framing, and image restoration management. This book provides a comprehensive discussion of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Image Restoration Theory (IRT) to establish a baseline for a conversation on celebrity image restoration tactics used on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook as well as traditional media platforms. Case studies offer a broad overview of politics, sports and entertainment image management and restoration. Recommended for scholars interested in public relations, crisis management, Image Repair Theory (IRT), and representations of race and gender in mass media. This book is important because it adds a critical lens to IRT to help conceptualize and contextualize stereotypical behaviors of the individuals in its case studies. Media provide historical content that researchers may use to analyze trends in representations of gender and race.

Reviews of Race, Gender and Image Restoration Theory: How Digital Media Change the Landscape: This is a timely book for understanding contemporary communication with several virtues. First, it provides an interesting combination of critical race theory and image repair theory. Second, it investigates social media along with traditional media, another useful advance. Third, the book offers several interesting case studies to illustrate and apply their approach. (William L. Benoit, University of Alabama, Birmingham)

It’s about time. There is not a book of this quality that pulls in the various strands of diversity, critical theory, social media, discourse, and brand/personal apologia. Critical race theory is a neglected but vital area of scholarship within social media and image repair areas. This book fills a gap with its relevant cases, timely discussion, and appropriate application of image repair theory. Within the communication discipline, issues of race, gender, and image repair are not connected and are out of sync with the current conversations happening. It would seem that these strands of thought would be incompatible, but this book merges these areas in a seamless, well-written way. Students and media professionals need to understand that the connective tissues between these theories are popular culture and mediated communication, and this book does that. This book and its cases are valuable for scholars and will be a needed conversation starter in undergraduate and graduate courses. (Natalie T. J. Tindall, Lamar University)

Research Interests

Missing black women

Moody, Dorris and Blackwell (2008) concluded that in addition to race and class, factors such as supposed attractiveness, body size and youthfulness function as unfair criteria in the determination of newsworthiness in coverage of missing women. Also noteworthy was that news coverage of missing black women was more likely to focus on the victim’s baggage, such as abusive boyfriends or a troubled past, while coverage of white women tends to focus on their roles as mothers or daughters.

Independent women

Later, Moody-Ramirez described the "independent black woman" phenomenon in two 2011 articles titled "A rhetorical analysis of the meaning of the 'independent woman' and "The meaning of 'Independent Woman' in music."

The articles indicated that the lyrics and videos of male and female rappers portrayed "independent women" differently. Using the concept of intersectionality, Moody's rhetorical analysis combined feminist and critical cultural theories to explore the meanings of the 'independent woman' in the lyrics and respective videos of male and female rappers. She concluded that songs by various artists, corresponding music videos, and viewer comments contained four main messages: wealth equals independence, beauty and independence are connected, average men deserve perfect women, and sexual prowess equals independence. Male rappers were more likely to include messages of beautiful, overachieving women paired with average men, while female rappers focus on their own sexual prowess.

Social Media

The study of social media has also been a prominent part of Moody-Ramirez’s career. In 2009, she offered insight on how Twitter can be used to teach students. She explained social media has changed the way people live, connect, and do business. She also explained how it is a good way to improve student participation. that students will be more involved in lectures and lessons if they have a chance to use social media throughout the course. For instance, introverts or shy students are more likely to open up behind a computer screen or the screen of their smart phone.

Social Movements

The Black Lives matter movement has been a primary topic of is one of her recent research themes. The topic struck a chord in her because she has two sons. She has coauthored two articles on this topic. Moody-Ramirez co-authored the book "From Blackface to Black Twitter: Reflections on Black Humor, Race, Politics, & Gender." This text explores high-profile Black Twitter cases along with the history and impetus for the popular platform. People of color in particular have used social media platforms to address topics. The topic of Black Twitter is important. Black Twitter offers an alternative narrative voice for the black community. The popular platform is characterized as a community of Black users who focus on issues of interest to the U.S. black community, such as police brutality, racism and other social injustices.