Leland Spencer makes a much-needed contribution to the communication discipline and larger cultural conversation with his critique of an iconic magazine that, for more than one hundred years, has othered faces and places in the name of education. His careful analysis of the 201617 turn toward social justicewith special issues and documentaries on race and genderreveals a small shift missing the mark on opportunities to construct and communicate messages that counter U.S. Americancentric meanings in worldmaking. Karla D. Scott, Professor of Communication, Saint Louis University Deploying an intersectional feminist lens to trace National Geographics historic entanglement with sexism, racism, patriarchy, and (neo)colonialism, Leland Spencer powerfully illustrates how the brands recent turn toward social justiceprominently exemplified by the publication of its Gender Revolution (2017) and The Race Issue (2018)does little to reckon with its complicated past and how it must be viewed skeptically. Spencers astute rhetorical analyses invite scholars and students interested in media, communication, critical race, and gender studies to consider what actual accountability from National Geographic under the constraints of neoliberal capitalism might look like.Mia Fischer, associate professor of media studies, Department of Communication, University of Colorado Denver, and author of Terrorizing Gender: Transgender Visibility and the Surveillance Practices of the U.S. Security State Deploying an intersectional feminist lens to trace National Geographics historic entanglement with sexism, racism, patriarchy, and (neo)colonialism, Leland Spencer powerfully illustrates how the brands recent turn toward social justiceprominently exemplified by the publication of its Gender Revolution (2017) and The Race Issue (2018)does little to reckon with its complicated past and how it must be viewed skeptically. Spencers astute rhetorical analyses invite scholars and students interested in media, communication, critical race, and gender studies to consider what actual accountability from National Geographic under the constraints of neoliberal capitalism might look like.Mia Fischer, associate professor of media studies, Department of Communication, University of Colorado Denver, and author of Terrorizing Gender: Transgender Visibility and the Surveillance Practices of the U.S. Security State
