Created and hosted by Dr. Khaliden Nas—a writer and researcher with a PhD in Media and Culture Studies from the University of Sussex—each episode of Referential is an academically informed deep dive into pop culture and media. In this one, we talked about Bravo's Real Housewives franchise, covering Real Housewives of Atlanta [RHOA] and Real Housewives of Potomac [RHOP], with thoughts on some of the other casts sprinkled throughout (Orange County, New York, New Jersey, DC, Salt Lake City and Vancouver).
Topics in this discussion include: existing as a Black woman in public, failing in public, respectability, the weight of representation, corporate activism as a commercial exercise, as well as the inevitable reality TV reckoning.
Video version also available here.