Second 8 week INTL course

2nd 8 weeks course "REL-A 470: JE SUIS CHARLIE? Islam, and the Politics of Satire"

Announcements from CLACS

This summer, CLACS will be offering several courses to study abroad for credit. We invite you to check out our summer courses for more information! 
This week we'd like to feature our course in Jamaica: Roots, Fruits and Resiliency: Cultural Ecology, Sustainable Agriculture and Eco-Heritage Tourism in Jamaica. 

Cafezinho! 
Portuguese language hour will take place every Friday from 4 - 6 PM in the IMU Starbucks. Come out and practice your Portuguese with speakers of all levels!

Boren Award Fellowships and Scholarships
Boren Awards are offered for both undergraduate and graduate students by the federal government seeking to broaden their horizons by studying abroad. Programs are often tailored by the student and are available for both semester and yearlong programs, though yearlong programs are preferential. For more details, please visit http://www.borenawards.org

Anthropology Field Program in Mexico (With IU Overseas Study) 
May 24th - June 16th 
Information Session: January 15th, 7-8 PM, SB 150
Application Due: January 30th, 2015
This program, worth 3 credits for A406, will introduce students to the research process in anthropology on topics of heritage and cultural patrimony, archaeology, linguistic change, cultural diversity, revitalization and indigenous rights in historic Oaxaca, Mexico. For more information, visit the information session as listed above, or check out the website.

SPEA in Cuba 
March 13 - 21, 2014
Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/spea_abroad/Spring_Break_Abroad_Programs/Cuba/index.shtml
SPEA is pleased to be offering a one-of-a-kind Spring Break course (V482) in Havana, Cuba, as part of the spring semester honors section of National and International Policy (S160) taught by Professor Dan Preston. Havana is the capital, largest city and economic heart of Cuba. It is the location of the Cuban Government, several cultural sites and historically significant locales, as well as many important businesses and institutions. The city provides a broad spectrum of learning opportunities. Furthermore, visiting Cuba is a unique experience and especially relevant for comparative policy studies given its proximity to the U.S. and dramatically different government structure. For more information, check out their website.

Geography G306: "Issues in Latin America, the Caribbean and Contemporary Cuba" 
This interdisciplinary summer course is a partnership between the Indiana University Office of Overseas Studies, the Department of Geography and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), El Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), the Central University of Villa Clara, Cuba and the Bloomington sister city program, Cubamistad.  The course includes two weeks of field studies in Cuba and will count for social science credit for most majors. For more information, check out their website here. 

Intern in Panama
11 week entrepreneurial internships in Panama are currently being offered via Kaluyala Internships. These programs focus on sustainability, and focus particularly on outdoor recreation, biology, community outreach & education, agriculture, farm-to-table culinary arts, business and health & wellness. For more information, check out their website. 

L.I.V.E Olympic Project
August 2nd - 17th, 2016 
August 6th - 16th, 2015
Website: http://www.communitycollaborations.org/olympics

Applications are now available for the  L.I.V.E. Olympic Project  which will give student leaders hands on experience planning and implementing a major volunteer event during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

CC International is currently recruiting 12 students leaders who have an interest in volunteerism, Brazilian culture, Portuguese language, and  the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero to participate in this unique international leadership training opportunity.

Global Health Work Opportunity with AYUDA
AYUDA is a non-profit organization that offers four different diabetes education programs in Haiti and the Dominican Republic throughout the year for students who are committed to rigorous training and field work.  Students earn up to 385 contact and preparation hours and work closely with our local partner organizations during their time in-country. For more information on our 2015 Programs, please see our website.

Huaylas Quechua
June 1st - July 10th 
The Center for Social Well Being offers a six week Intensive Quechua Language course in the north central Peruvian Andes. The program is designed for students who require class instruction and Quechua immersion contexts to develop language proficiency. For more information, check out their website here. 

for COLL students: unique one-credit spring course-- the PACE-C 400 Issue Forum

Dear fellow advisors in the College,

We hope you will share with your students the opportunity to participate in the popular PACE-C 400 Issue Forum, for which they can enroll now. This year’s topic is Policing in the U.S.

A flyer is available if you would like to have one or more; please let me know.

 

Participants will discuss the topic in small groups and with an expert panel as they form their own views and decide what is most important to them -- and lunch is served! It is a one-credit, one-day meeting, with a preparation assignment and a post-forum paper. The forum will be held on Saturday, Feb. 21.

 

Interested undergraduates can register for class #24320.

Thank you very much for passing along this information as appropriate.

New N&M Course for spring

SLAV-T252
Spring 2015
Instructor Dr. Jeff Holdeman
MW 1:00–2:15 pm, BH 344
CASE N&M

The Slavic languages form an important subgroup of Indo-European and are spoken from East
and Central Europe, through the Balkans, and across northern Asia, and Russian serves as
a lingua franca across Central Asia.  The three branches of Slavic (East, West, and
South) are composed of over a dozen living languages and boast well over 400 million
speakers.

The course is meant to be a fun and interactive approach to exploring linguistic
processes.  No previous experience with Slavic languages is required, but an active
curiosity about how people use and change language will be a plus.

Students acquire foundational concepts in linguistic analysis which they will use to
analyze a great array of language materials from modern Slavic languages, inductively
writing rules which they then test with new data from other languages and drawing
conclusions about the evolution of languages and the forces which shape them.  Rather
than learn about these "exotic" languages through memorizing arbitrary rules and facts,
students will learn a range of linguistic approaches to understand how languages change
over time and to compare aspects of the Slavic languages, from alphabets to sound systems
to vocabulary to verb systems.

EDUC-X150: Reading-Learning Techniques 1

The Student Academic Center is offering an 8-weeks course called “Becoming the Best Student” to help Freshmen and Sophomores organize their lives as students, develop best practices for academic study, and foster a love of deep learning.  Coursework builds transferable skills in time management, studying and test-taking, taking notes, reading for better comprehension, and critical thinking.  If you know a student who could use a concentrated crash-course in college academics, please consider guiding them to this class.

 

EDUC-X150: Reading-Learning Techniques 1 (2 credits)

VT: Becoming the Best Student

 

For more info, go to http://sac.indiana.edu/courses/xonefivezeromanage/

Portuguese Course Offerings

Dear Students,

I am writing to encourage you to add a Portuguese class to your curriculum in Spring 2015. Portuguese is spoken all over the world and is the official language in several countries (not just Portugal and Brazil). It is the 6th most spoken language in the world, with over 260 million speakers. At IU, we have a vibrant Portuguese department with a number of cultural activities throughout the year.

 

Portuguese Minor: 15 credit hours of course work at or above the 200 level, including: P200-250, P311, P317, and a 400-level course, or P290 with permission of the department.

 

Portuguese Major: 30 credit hours of course work at or above the 200 level.

 

If you are a Spanish major, you may count a Portuguese class towards your Spanish major. Or you may consider adding a Portuguese minor (or major). Most Spanish majors start at P135 (Intensive Portuguese), but if you feel you should be placed at a higher level, contact me and we will arrange a placement interview.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me: Dr. Luciana Namorato, lnamorat@indiana.edu.

Or visit: http://www.indiana.edu/~spanport/undergraduate/degree.shtml

In the meantime, we hope to see you at our Portuguese Conversation hour, every Friday, from 4 to 6pm, at Starbucks, IU Memorial Union.

 

SPRING 2015 CLASS OFFERS

 

HISP-P 135 Intensive Portuguese (4 credits)  
For students with a strong background in Spanish or another Romance Language. Content of P100 and P150 covered at an accelerated pace. This course can count for the Spanish major 300/400 level elective. HISP-P 135  #18164   9:05A - 9:55A   MTWR  

 

HISP-P 150 Elementary Portuguese II (4 credits)  
Prerequisite: P100 or equivalent.

Second semester of first-year Portuguese HISP-P 150  #18165   10:10A - 11:00A    MTWR   

 

HISP-P 250 Second‑Year Portuguese II (3 credits)  Prerequisite: P200 or equivalent. 

Second semester of second‑year Portuguese. HISP-P 250   #23311 and #26914   10:10A - 11:00A    MWF   

 

HISP-P 311 Advanced Grammar and Composition in Portuguese   (3 credits)
Prerequisite: P200-P250 or equivalent

An advanced course on Portuguese composition and grammar. Students will write compositions, increasing in length and complexity as the semester progresses.  HISP-P 311    #30137    11:15A - 12:05P   MWF  

 

HISP-P 401  Literatures of the Portuguese Speaking World II  (3 credits)        

Second part of a two-semester survey of the literatures of Portugal, Brazil, and Portuguese-speaking Africa from the late 19th century to present day. This course is cross-cultural and comparative in nature focusing on how diverse authors—all writing in Portuguese—but from different geographic regions responded to the historical and social challenges of their times. We will read a variety of genres (prose, poetry, theater) and cover the major literary movements from realism, modernism, to social realism and contemporary feminist and post-modernist writing. The course is taught in Portuguese, and students are not required

GER-E322 Berlin Course

This course is linked with a 4-week overseas study program that will count as the overseas experience for INTL majors. Register for this course in the spring and it leads into the topics you will study while abroad.

GER-E322 Course Description

Berlin is a symbol—a swastika, Stalin’s smile, a television tower—and it is a historical hub where people gather for the sake of commerce, power, love, and culture. It is an archeological site of tragic, criminal, revolutionary, and mistaken cities, a building site of comic, cool, prudent, and exuberant cities, and an imaginary city of espionage, decadence, cosmopolitanism and solidarity. During the semester we will try to plumb the bewildering layers of Berlin by asking one persistent question of different times and representations: what did chance feel like in Berlin? What did it mean to take a chance in the traffic of Berlin in the 1920s, what did in mean to take a chance in art and architecture? What did it mean to take a chance on political revolution? What chance did one take when one committed to an idea… or a prejudice? What did it feel like to risk trusting a stranger, a friend, or a lover during the Weimar Republic, Third Reich, or Cold War? Was it a risk to reunify Germany with Berlin as its capital—and who took it? What chances do people take living in Berlin’s global economy today? What chances does a refugee or a wanderer face? To answer our guiding question we will consider representations of uncertainty, risk, and novelty (and their opposites: identity, security, normality, predictability) over the last hundred years of ever-surprising Berlin. 

 

BOOKS

Jana Hensel, After the Wall: Confessions from an East German Childhood (Public Affairs) ISBN-13: 978-1586485597

Philip Kerr, March Violets: A Bernie Gunther Novel (Penguin) ISBN-13: 978-0142004142

Irmgard Keun, The Artificial Silk Girl (The Other Press) ISBN-13: 978-1590514542

John le Carré, Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Penguin) ISBN-13: 978-0143121428

Christa Wolf, They Divided the Sky (University of Ottawa Press) ISBN-13: 978-0776607870

 

 

Fall Second Eight Week Labor Studies Courses

Need a 3 or 1 Credit Class ONLINE This Semester? We have some seats open in the following courses!

 

 

No On-Campus Meetings · No On-Campus Exams · No On-Campus Lectures 

 

Classes start Wednesday, October 22, 2014

And will end on December 10, 2014

 

L100-17364 Survey of Unions & Collective Bargaining
L100-17365 Survey of Unions & Collective Bargaining

L100-17366 Survey of Unions & Collective Bargaining

L100-17367Survey of Unions & Collective Bargaining

L104-13713 Intro to the Study of Labor History

L104-13714 Intro to the Study of Labor History

L104-14565Intro to the Study of Labor History

L110-12558 Labor & Society

L110-16709 Labor & Society

L205-17652 Contemporary Labor Problems

L290-35281 American Dream in an Age Decline

 

We also have two 1 credit hour Topics courses open for Fall 2014:

 

L290-35284 Preventing Sexual Harassment (1 cr.) Starting Date: 11/12 - Ending 12/10/14

L290-35286 Strikes!  Labor Revolt in America (1 cr.) Starting Date: 10/22- Ending 11/26/14

 

Register for these courses through Onestart. For additional information, contact the Craig Campbell, Labor Studies Student Services Coordinator, at: ccampbe5@iupui.edu 317-274-8340 or Sarah Bailey at:  schilder@indiana.edu, 812-855-9084.

 

Sociolinguistics of World Englishes - Second 8-weeks course

SLST-S319 Special Topics in Second Language Studies:

Sociolinguistics of World Englishes

 

This course examines the linguistics and politics of English as spoken in regions such as Europe, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Selected studies of sociolinguistic variation,language change, code-switching, and Universal Grammar will inform discussion of both standard and nonstandard Englishes in multilingual societies from a sociolinguistic perspective. COLL (CASE) S&H, 3 credits

 

Class #36212

Time: MW, 10:10am – 12:40pm

Place: ED 1210

Instructor: David Stringer

Dept. of Second Language Studies

ds6@indiana.edu

www.indiana.edu/~dsls/faculty/stringer.shtml

 

2nd 8 weeks class CEUS-R 311: Travelers and Explorers in Central Asia

This course charts the discovery and exploration of Central Asia (from western China to northeastern Iran) by its many visitors – adventurers, pilgrims, geographers, missionaries, merchants in disguise, diplomats and prisoners of war – from the eighth through the nineteenth centuries.

 

The numerous testimonies left by those visitors will serve as a point of departure for our own exploration of the history of this fascinating but under-studied region, a region that had witnessed, among other things, the unique merger of cultures (Arab, Persian, Turkic, Chinese, Mongol, and Russian), the Arab conquest of an ancient Persian civilization, the Jewish Khazar state, the Mongol hordes under Chinggis Khan, the rule of Timur (Tamerlane) over a vast Kingdom centered in the fabled city of Samarqand, the nomadic invasions of the 16th Century, the rise of the Tribal Dynasties of the 18th and 19th centuries, and the expansion of the Russian Empire.

 

The course focuses on reading primary sources (in the original English or translated from Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Turkish, Latin, German and Russian) which, in addition to underscoring Central Asia's pivotal role as a crossroads of civilizations, will also allow us to evaluate travel logs, diaries, memoirs, and mission reports as sources for the study of (Central Asian) history. We will wonder about the common grounds that modern-day historians and medieval tourists may share and also introduce the potential unanimity and contrast between inside and outside sources.

 

Seats Available - Regional Course

Greek History Encounters Greek Film, EURO-W405/W605

Greek History Encounters Greek Film is an interdisciplinary course that provides an overview of Modern Greek history while simultaneously addressing larger questions about the representation of history through the medium of film.  The course will begin with a historical overview that will introduce studentsto modern Greece’s fascinating and complex history.  We will focus on a variety of events including the Greek Enlightenment and the national revolution, the first Kingdom of Greece, the Balkan Wars, modernization, the Asia Minor Catastrophe, WWII and the Occupation, the Civil War, the Military Junta of 1967-1974, and membership in the European Union.  

As this foundation is put into place, we will begin examining film representations of these historical events.  Initially, our discussion of these film texts will be focused on questions of historiography and historical accuracy.  From there, we will branch out to examine both the process by which film texts create an aura of historical authenticity and the way that film texts function as historically situated events themselves: as events, in other words, that reflect and shape specific political, social, and historiographical moments.  In the process, we will also address broader questions, such as the relationship of film to history and the nature of historical representation. 

This course carries Global Civilizations and Cultures Credit and Social and Historical Studies (S & H) Breath of Inquiry Credit.

Summer 4W3 Course: GEOG-G 306 Communities and Food

GEOG-G 306 (# 16454)
Communities and Food
4W3 / 3rd Four Week Summer Session
July 7 – August 1
Daily: 12:40 pm – 2:50 pm
SB 005

Instructor: Angela Babb
(Babb’s research interests include food deserts)

Do you want both the summer sun and some 300-level credits?

Now you can have your cake and eat it too!

Earn credits and get outside the classroom:

For lectures: Enjoy the cool comfort of a newly updated classroom in the historic Student Building

For field trips: Visit the community garden, community orchard, farmer’s markets, local food pantries, etc.

Enrich your life and your community one garden at a time.

Human Trafficking and Other Global Moral Panics

Fall - Sociolinguistics of World Englishes

Summer - HIST-A 200 – Dr. Kinsey and American Culture

HIST-A 200 – Dr. Kinsey and American Culture

A200 (sect. 12239) Dr. Kinsey and U.S. Culture (3 credits)

Instructor: H. Allinson

Meets 12:40-2:30 MTWR

Meets IUB GenEd S&H and COLL (CASE) S&H Breadth of Inquiry Credit

 

Dr. Alfred Kinsey is often credited with (or accused of) transforming American attitudes towards sex and sparking the sexual revolution. For some, he was a hero, while others have called him a fraud, a pervert, and even a pedophile. Since his death in 1956, 5 biographies have been written about him, and the 2004 biopic about him made Kinsey a household name. What made this IU professor such an important and controversial figure?

            This course examines Dr. Kinsey’s life, work, and legacy, and places him in the broader context of U.S. cultural history. What cultural trends was Dr. Kinsey responding to as he taught and conducted his research? What impact, if any, did he have on those trends? Was his research on sexual behavior truly “revolutionary”?

            Topics to be covered include: the I.U. Marriage course, venereal diseases, eugenics, sex research, the cold war, the sexual revolution, the evolution of homo-/hetero- sexual identities, transgender identities and politics, and contemporary research at the Kinsey Institute. Readings will include unpublished documents from Dr. Kinsey’s archives, and the class will include a visit to the Kinsey Institute.

 

Summer REL-R 153 Religions of Asia Available

"This course will grant you an opportunity to begin exploring some of the religious traditions that originated in or are practiced in great number in Asia.  More specifically, we will examine Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism and Daoism, as well as Islam as it is practiced in South Asia. The course will explore each tradition through a study of its more fundamental texts and its more popular ritual cultures. Throughout our explorations, we will decipher the “big questions” or issues inherent in each tradition, and consider how these may shape or challenge our own definitions of and thinking about religion. No prior knowledge of Asia or religion is necessary."

A Couple Summer N&M and S&H Options from Anthropology...

ANTH-A 211 THE GENETIC SCIENCE OF CSI

* Meets GenEd N&M Natural Science and COLL (CASE) N&M

* 1st 6 Week Summer Session

* Only three days per week:  MTW 10:20A-12:15P

 

Need N&M Credit? Obsessed with CSI? Want to know the science behind the forensic genetics on these popular shows? Where are you leaving your DNA? What can I tell about you from your DNA (skin color, hair color, eye color, height, disease, ancestry…)? How likely is it that your DNA will falsely implicate you in a crime? Will your next speeding citation include being swabbed for a genetic sample? Is OJ guilty? Who is buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier? Is there really tiger bone in that love potion? Was that sushi you just ate really tuna? These and many other questions will be addressed in this course.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

ANTH-A 105  HUMAN ORIGINS & PREHISTORY

* Meets GenEd S&H and COLL (CASE) S&H

* 1st 6 Week Summer Session

* Only three days per week:  MTW 03:00P-04:55P

 

What makes us human? How long have we, as a species, been around? How did humans and our ancestors change over time? In this course, we will address these questions and many others on the topics of human origins and evolution, primates and our closest relatives, and more ‘recent’

developments in human history. We will learn about how scientists and researchers study human development, variation, and prehistory.

 

This course is also available as:

ANTH-A 303  EVOLUTION & PREHISTORY

* Meets with ANTH-A 105 (above)

* Meets only COLL (CASE) S&H

* Great option for students who need upper-level credit

* E-mail anthro@indiana.edu to request authorization to enroll in A303

New course: The Art & Fiction of War

The Art & Fiction of War

a new class for Fall 2014

 

Professor Marco Arnaudo

FRIT-G 275, class 30905

Thematic Studies

Tues/Thurs 2:30-3:45 pm

In this class, Machiavelli’s theories of warfare as a modern political tool will be a reference point to analyze representations of war as a theme in fiction. Representations of war discussed in this class will span through various media, periods, and genres, and they will include texts such as Garibaldi's Autobiography, Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, Emilio Lussu's A Soldier on the Southern Front, and Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. In English.

Harry Potter! Sci-Fi Films! Great CMCL A&H Summer Classes with Openings

CMCL-C 207: Topics in Cultural Analysis and Interpretation

(Topic: Poisonous Potions, Charming Curses, and the Dark Arts: Harry Potter and Rhetorico-Magics of Justice)

Class Number: 15323 (6W1)

 

MTuWTh,10:20 AM-12:10 PM, C2 203

 

Carries CASE A&H Credit

Carries GenEd Breadth of Inquiry A&H Credit

 

Instructor: Jeremy Gordon

E-Mail: jeregord@indiana.edu

Office: C2 248

Phone: 855-2365

In the Encomium to Helen, Gorgias, an ancient rhetorician, defends the famous spark of the Trojan War by claiming that her soul could have been seduced by the "divine sweetness" in the enchanting language of love.  "Speech is a powerful lord," argues Gorgias, "that with the smallest and most invisible body . . . can banish fear and remove grief and instill pleasure and enhance pity."  Gorgias situates such power in terms of magic, claiming that the "force of incantation is wont to beguile and persuade and alter it [the soul] by witchcraft . . ."  Thus, the charms and curses of rhetoric might be considered a form of magic that beguiles and bewitches.  Gorgias' sentiments are alluring and a flick of the wand away in Hermione Granger's conjuring of the confundus charm in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, or a stir away from Professor Serverus Snape's alchemical arts, "the beauty of the softly cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind and ensnaring the senses . . . I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death."  Rhetoric and magic are dynamic, lively, and animating, full of potential, for "good" and "ill."  Both are risky and subtle and require nuance.  And both are absolutely necessary for deciding on matters of justice and how a just society should be arranged.  Just as the magical arts are central for the wizarding world, rhetoric is central for our Muggle realm, especially when it comes to judgments of virtue/vice, innocence/guilt, good/bad, and what are just deserts.  If, as Professor Snape asserts, potions can creep and bewitch and ensnare for a multitude of ends, how do we know when to brew/use a certain draught, and when not to?  Similar questions might be asked of Gorgias and his sweet rhetoric.  In short, the ethics of rhetoric and magic become a primary concern in how we (witch)craft justice.

 

 

CMCL-C 392: Media Genres

(Topic: The Sci-Fi Film: Science Fiction as Cultural Mirror)

Class Number: (6W1)

MTuWTh, 3:00 PM-4:50 PM, C2 203

Required film screening: TuTh, 7:15 PM-10:15 PM, WY 015

Carries CASE A&H Credit

Instructor: Joshua Vasquez

E-Mail: jrvasque@indiana.edu

Office: C2 214

Phone: 856-5367

 

Science Fiction is one of the most enduring genres, circulating across multiple media forms, including popular and literary novels, as well as comic books, videogames, and music, and especially the mass arenas of television and film. Sci-Fi is capable of asking questions of the profoundest scope and of the narrowest focus, from inquiries into the nature of existence and the infinite to interrogations of spectatorship and fandom as well as industrial practice. As with many genres, when we look closely at Science Fiction we have the opportunity to peer into the workings of culture itself and interact with the shifts in, and mediations circulating through, social structures, sentiments, fears, and fascinations.

 

This class will focus specifically on Sci-Fi film as a way to not only explore the styles and stories of a single genre but rather an entire constellation of culturally inscribed and embedded narratives, themes, and representations. It seems that we keep coming back to Science Fiction as a way to explore ourselves. What can Sci-Fi’s generic adaptability tell us about the cultural usefulness of a genre primed to explore topics as continually socially relevant as fears of the Other, environmental disaster, forces of oppression and resistance, and questions of being and the self?

 

Assignments will include a Take-Home Midterm, quizzes and short written responses, and a final exam.

 

Screenings may include Blade Runner, Looper, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Inception, The Fly, Solaris, and Star Trek Into Darkness.

CMCL-C 190: Introduction to Media – required class for CMCL major and minor 

Class Number: 13828 (8W1) 

MTuWTh, 12:40 PM-1:55 PM, SY 004

Required film screening: TuTh, 7:15 PM-10:15 PM, WY 005

Required for all majors in the Department of Communication and Culture

Carries CASE A&H Credit

Carries GenEd Breadth of Inquiry A&H Credit

Instructor: Christopher Miles

E-Mail: chrimile@indiana.edu

Office: C2 212

Phone: 855-7238

 

References to the power and prevalence of “the media” are commonplace.  But what are “the media?”  How do they work and for whom?  As media increasingly pervade the fabric of daily life, and as fewer and fewer entities dominate media ownership, the urgency of asking and answering these questions only grows in importance.

 

Yet, these questions are incredibly difficult to ask—much less to answer—owing in part to the ways in which the structure and functioning of the media remain, for many of us, taken for granted, perhaps even something of a mystery.  This course will introduce you to the basic vocabularies of visual and media literacy and hone your skills at analyzing media texts, institutions, apparatuses, and audiences critically.  We will focus on four prevalent media genres—film, radio, television, and the internet—and our goal will be to explore the relationships between and among form, content, ownership, and meaning with respect to each.  C190 will help you to appreciate more fully the complex ways in which the media inhabit and affect social, cultural, political, and economic life.  More importantly, it will provide you with the analytical, interpretive, and critical skills by which to navigate and begin to make sense of the densely mediated landscapes we inhabit.