IDS 4933: Critical Social Theory and Media
Daniel White, HC 146, dwhite@fau.edu office hours T & R 10:00-11:15; W 2:30-3:00 and
5:20-5:50
Course Description:
This ICIS Seminar will explore the relationship between critical social theory and communications media. Critical Social Theory will be understood as the convergence of neo-Marxism, feminism, (post)structuralism, postcolonialism, critical race and sexuality studies, and informatics. Drawing on these perspectives the course will provide an interdisciplinary analysis of diverse media forms—from typography, to photography, gramophony, cinematography, videography, and digital technology. Contemporary political, social, and cultural conflicts will be explored through their expressions in electronic media. Special emphasis will be given to gender codes in the media, as male and female images circulate through the media channels of global communications. The shaping of knowledge, perception, and identity will be explored in terms of the vantage points emerging from the interface of media users with new forms of communication. Just as the “reader” emerged in relationship to the “book,” so the “hacker” or the “Web surfer” has emerged in relation to the personal PC. If media theorists are right, this new relationship is transforming human subjectivity just as profoundly as the invention of writing or the printing press once did. Thus the course will engage students in a multifaceted critical dialogue stemming from the classroom into its encompassing ‘media landscape.’ It will sharpen skills in critical thought and perception, as well as in writing, public speaking, and multimedia computing. Each student is encouraged to develop his or her own viewpoint and to express ideas and criticisms openly, particularly those in disagreement with the professors or points of view studied.
Requirements:
Text: Meenakshi Gigi
Films:
CTheory: Donna Haraway Lecture and Discussion
CTheory: Katherine Hayles and Arthur Kroker
Democracy
Now: Chomsky on Failed States
Democracy
Now: Stephen Colbert's Satire of Washington News Media
Frontline: Reporting America at war a film
Frontline World: India, Starring Osama bin Laden
Frontline: Karl Rove--the Architect
Manufacturing Consent Noam Chomsky and the Media
The Merchants of Cool: Frontline
Online
Journals and Books:
Baudrillard
Studies: http://www.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/index.html
Ctheory: Theory, Technology, & Culture: www.ctheory.net
Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies: Taylor & Francis Journals via EZproxy
Leonardo Electronic Almanac MIT
Media representations of September 11
Postmodern Culture: Project Muse via EZproxy
Links for Further Study:
Kenyan Newspaper Struggles for Freedom of Press
Swiss Aids Drive Drops Garments
Bill O'Reilly's Critique of Multiculturalism
Alan Dershowitz on Pre-Emptive War and Torture: a review
Alan M. Dershowitz homepage
Noam Chomsky homepage
Guardian: Inside Iraq's hidden war
U.S. Urged to Stop Paying Iraqi Reporters, New York Times
A Propaganda Slush Fund Courtesy of Tax Payers
US House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform "Federal Public Relations Spending"
Situationist international online for further study about Guy Debord
Karl
Rove Indicted [?] on Charges of Perjury, Lying to Investigators
Rove
Won't Be Charged in C.I.A. Leak Case
Noam
Chomsky at West Point
Rosen's
Reporting Targets 'Belly' of Iraq an alternative
view of the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
June 10 2006
Frontline: Sex Slaves on the international traffic in women ‘sold’ by agents from poor countries to wealthy entrepreneurs
Jean Baudrillard's Life & Work
Amy Goodman: "Access of Evil" a critique of press’s ‘balanced’ reporting in time of war
Frontline: "The Dark Side" study of the covert dimensions of the War on Terror (behind the “news”)
Artifacts for Analysis:
Marilyn
Monroe "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"
Material
Girl in East Asia: 7 Flowers
Assignments and Grades:
1) Two essays, each 1000 words minimum, each 25% = 50 % of final grade; must be submitted in duplicate, one copy for each professor
2)
A group presentation:
20% of final grade
3)
Class work and written
in-class responses: All students
will be required to turn in a single spaced paragraph overview of the assigned
reading(s) for each class meeting. Also,
each student will be required to summarize in detail a particular reading of
her/his choice to be presented during our class discussion: 20% of final
grade
4)
Attendance and Participation: Each student is expected to attend and
participate in each class. You must
contact us at least two days in advance if you will be absent:
10% of final grades.
Essays will be graded for composition and content by
both professors. Group presentations will be in extemporaneous form based on an
outline. Topics must be approved. Both the quantity and quality of each
student’s class participation will be evaluated. Both professors will grade each paper; the final grade on each paper
will be the average of the two grades.
Presentations will include 1) at least one critical-theoretical standpoint based on a primary source and 2) discussion of an artifact of media culture in terms of the aforementioned standpoint; multimedia format should be employed; group presentations are encouraged; each person or group must submit an outline and works cited list for the presentation;15 minutes should be allowed for each presenter; each presentation will include a brief question-and-answer session.
***The Honor Code is in effect; please see its provisions here: Honor Code (procedures for dealing with plagiarism/cheating). If you have questions or you are confused about something, please come by during our office hours and we would be glad to assist you.
***Notes, audio, or video recordings of this class may
not be distributed in any form outside of the classroom without the express
consent of the professors.
Weekly Assignments: all readings are from Media and Cultural Studies unless otherwise indicated.
Week 1: May 16-18 Culture, Ideology, & Hegemony
Tuesday: Film: Stephen
Colbert's Satire of Washington News Media;
Thursday: Chomsky
on Failed States
(in part); Reading: Marx and Engels, “The Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas”; Gramsci, “History of the Subaltern Classes,” “Concept of Ideology,” “Cultural Themes”; Benjamin, “The Work of Art”; Horkheimer and Adorno, “The Culture Industry”.
Week 2: May
23-25 Social Life and Cultural Studies
Tuesday: Film /Digital: Frontline:
The Persuaders;
Thursday: Digital:
Week 3: May 30—June 1 Political Economy
Tuesday: Digital:
Frontline:
Karl Rove--the Architect;
Thursday: Digital: Robert Fisk on Iraq, Palestine and the Failure of the U.S. Corporate Media to Challenge Authority; Reading: Schiller, “Not Yet the Post-Imperialist Era”; “Pierre Bordieu, “Introduction,” “The Aristocracy of Culture”; “On Television”; Edouard Manet at the National Gallery; Manufacturing consent Noam Chomsky and the media ; Chomsky Interview on Democracy Now II; ISRAEL & PALESTINE AFTER DISENGAGEMENT: Where Do We Go From Here? [Alan Dershowitz in Debate with Noam Chomsky]
Week 4: June 6-8
Tuesday: Digital:
CTheory: Katherine Hayles and Arthur Kroker;
Thursday: Essay I Due
Frontline World:
India, Starring Osama bin Laden;
Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses”; “Canclini, “Hybrid Cultures, Oblique Powers”; Baudrillard, “The Precession of Simulacra.” This is the Fourth World War: Der Spiegel Interview with Baudrillard
Week 5: June 13-15 PRESENTATIONS; Postmodern Turn
& New Media
Tuesday: Digital: CTheory: Donna Haraway Lecture
and Discussion;
Thursday: Presentations: Robyn & Jarred on “My
Space”; Dani, Diego, & Kyle on Cartoons
Week
6: June 20-22 Globalization and Social Movements
Tuesday:
Presentations: Malwina & Amanda on “Sex and the City”;
Contemporary Slavery?: The Abramoff-DeLay-Mariana Islands Connection
Reading, Straubhaar, “(Re)Asserting
National Television”; Film:
Good Night
and Good Luck
Thursday: Presentations:
Andrea & Randi on a Dodge Caliber commercial; Travis, Maria, &
Jeanette on a Toyota 4 x 4 Commercial
Reading, Kahn
and Kellner, “Oppositional Politics and
the Internet”; "Camouflage
The Signal - Guerrilla Tactics in the Communications Jungle" ; "Communication guerrilla - a
message out of the deeper german backwoods" ;
"What
about Communication Guerrilla?"