COMMUNICTION AND CULTURE 7000
PERSPECTIVES IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE
WINTER 2006
Tuesdays 6-9 pm, 99 Gerrard St E, Room 420 or 433 depending
Professor Rosemary J. Coombe
Canada Research Chair in Law, Communication and Culture
Room 3007 TEL Building
416-736-2100 x 30157
Formal Office Hours: Thursdays 1:30 - 2:45 or by appointment
E-mail: rcoombe@yorku.ca
Class listserve: COCU7000@yorku.ca
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
A. CLASS PREPARATION AND PARTICIPATION
1) Conscientious class preparation in terms of the assignments for each class. In your written assignments, group projects, and class discussions I will expect that you demonstrate that you are familiar with the material.
2) In-Class participation. My basic pedagogical philosophy is that "knowledge" is the fruit of the effervescence of discussion and dialogue between people who are willing to be changed and challenged by what they hear and speak. For the change of heart and mind called "learning" to take place, you must actively participate in class and this involves serious listening as well as serious speaking. Although I will sometimes take the lead in conjuring the space of dialogue and giving form to the discussion, the success of this course for you individually and the class as a whole depends on your willingness and desire to be responsible for your own education by being prepared for and participating in class and contributing to making the classroom dialogue welcoming and inclusive as well as critical and challenging.
CLASS PARTICIPATION WILL ACCOUNT FOR 10% OF YOUR GRADE.
B. CLASS PRESENTATION
You will be asked to choose one of the weekly topics, present the main themes in the readings, and pose questions for class discussion. You are especially encouraged to ask how a particular study was designed, what research methods were used, what questions were posed, and why the study makes a contribution to scholarship and how. What criteria should we use to evaluate the study? How does it add new dimensions to our understanding of theoretical concepts?
You are encouraged to use handouts and any multimedia aids but students must make their own arrangements with Jo Ann Mackie for any necessary audiovisual equipment from the university well in advance or provide it from other sources.
THE CLASS PRESENTATION WILL COMPRISE 20% OF YOUR GRADE
C. REACTION NOTES
During the course you will be expected to choose three weeks (other than the week that you are doing a presentation) where you will prepare short (6-8) page sets of reading notes responding to a particular week's readings to be handed in at the beginning of the class for which the readings have been assigned. You cannot summarize in this amount of space but you can find one theme in the work you consider significant or one way in which you feel it advances our understanding of a topic or theoretical position, for example or ways its approach could be supplemented or improved, for instance.
One set of notes is due before reading week.
REACTION NOTES WILL COMPRISE 30% OF YOUR GRADE.
D. TERM RESEARCH PROJECT
You will write a term paper on a topic of your own choosing but you are advised to use this paper as an opportunity to further your own research projects. Thus, you might consider how the approaches and studies we cover assist you to think about how to conceive of and execute your own project or how and why your own project challenges some of the assumptions made and methods used in the assigned works. It is anticipated that the only "research" you will do for the paper is the same "research" you are doing for your dissertation and thus that you will critically consider at least three of the assigned readings in your paper.
Alternatively you can choose to do four additional sets of reading notes. If you choose this option, one set of reaction notes can address the topic of your moderation/presentation but will still be due at or before class.
THE TERM PAPER OR 4 SETS OF ADDITIONAL NOTES WILL COMPRISE 40% OF YOUR GRADE.
E. OTHER GOVERNMENTALITIES
The granting of extensions is entirely at the discretion of the professor and usually is restricted to documented personal illness or bereavement in the immediate family. Late papers will be penalized at 5% per day. LATE REACTION NOTES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO KNOW THEIR RESPECTIVE UNIVERSITIES POLICIES WITH RESPECT TO PLAGARISM AND ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT.
All cellular phones pagers and other communication devices should be turned off during the class sessions. Leaving the classroom to answer communications from elsewhere is considered impolite to other members of the learning community.
F. COURSE MANAGEMENT
The course content has been revised and selections from amongst readings made in accordance with student preferences expressed in the first class.
The amount of reading assigned for the course is "heavy" according
to the criteria used in most graduate courses, but not all. The course is
designed, however, to expose you to a broad range of contemporary and cutting
edge studies using different approaches to communications and culture. Where
a "study" could be divided into sections to reduce reading amounts
this has been done (and for books that have not yet been received this will
be done). Where one or more "study" would serve to illustrate a
similar approach, students have been given a choice as to which to read depending
upon their personal tastes. Where an entire book-or most of it -- has been
assigned, bear in mind that you are not reading the book to absorb all of
the information in it or to "know" its content, but rather, to critically
consider it as a study or research project in the field of communications
and cultural studies. Please read accordingly.
Week 1, January 17th: Culture Studies: Theory Recap
John Hall et.al. Sociology
on Culture (Routledge 2003): 1-15, 30-41, 69-91, 93-116, 118-138,
214-234.
*This is a large file
- may take some time to fully download.
Concepts/Themes:
John Fiske (1989). Reading the Popular. Routledge: New York.
John Fiske (1989). Understanding Popular Culture. Routledge: New York.
AND
Marcel Danesi and Paul Perron, Analyzing Culture: An Introduction and Handbook (Indiana University, 1999): 2-14, 39-63.
Background:
Beverly Skeggs (2003). Class, Self, Culture. London: Routledge.
Diane Crane, ed. (1994). The Sociology of Culture: Emerging Theoretical Perspectives. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
Elaine Baldwin et al, ed. (1999). Introducing Cultural Studies. London: Prentice Hall.
Elizabeth Long, ed. (1997). From Sociology to Cultural Studies: New Perspectives. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Shane Gunster (2004). Capitalizing on Culture: Critical Theory for Cultural Studies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Terry Eagleton (2004). The Idea of Culture. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
Toby Miller, ed. (2000). A Companion to Cultural Studies. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
Joel Whitebook (2004). The Marriage of Marx and Freud: Critical Theory and Psychoanalysis. In Fred Rush, The Cambridge Companion to Critical Theory (74-102). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Week 2, January 24th: Communication and Politics
Moderators: Irena Knezevic & Naveen Joshi
Justin Lewis, Constructing Public Opinion (Columbia University Press, 2001): ix-xiv, 3-73, 98-117, 167-197.
Concepts/Themes:
Background:
Francis A. Beer and Christ’l de Landtsheer, ed. (2004). Metaphorical World Politics. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press: 1-31, 111-159, 193-213, 237-254.
Week 3, January 31st: Political Economy of Culture 1
Moderators: Ian Robinson & Cliff Vanderlinden
Andrew Beck, ed., Cultural Work: Understanding the Culture Industries (Routledge, 2003): 1-10, 15-34, 37-52, 56-72, 103-119, 147-156.
Concepts/Themes:
AND
Andrew Ross, “Dot.com urbanism,” in Nick Couldry and Anna McCarthy, Mediaspace: Place, Scale and Culture in a Media Age (Routlege, 2004): 145-162.
Concepts/Themes:
Background:
Andrew Calabrese and Colin Sparks, ed. (2004). Toward a Political Economy of Culture: Capitalism and Communication in the Twenty-First Century. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. [Look at this book]
Andrew Sayer and Laurence James Ray, ed. (1999). Culture and Economy After the Cultural Turn. California: Sage Publications.
Week 4, February 7th: Political Economy of Culture 2
Moderators: Kelly Egan & Ada Wong
Keith Negus, Music Genres and Corporate Cultures (Routledge, 1999): 1-82. Choose either 83-102 OR 103-140 OR 152-172 (different genres) AND 173-183.
Concepts/Themes:
OR
Charles Acland, Screen Traffic (Duke University Press, 2003): 3-81, 130-195, 229-246.
Concepts/Themes:
Arjun Appadurai (1990). Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy. Theory, Culture & Society, Vol. 7: 295-310.
Background:
John Nauright and Kimberly Schimmel, ed. (2005). Political Economy of Sport. England: Palgrave Macmillan.
Martin Clayton, Trevor Herbert, and Richard Middleton (2003). The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction. New York: Routledge.
Week 7, February 28th: Globalization
Moderators: Irene Berkowitz & Xiaoyan Xiang
Toby Miller, et al, Global Hollywood, 2nd Edition (BFI 2001): 1-88, 110-145, 171-194.
Concepts/Themes:
Gina M. Eckhardt (2004), ‘The Role of Consumer Agency in the Globalization Process in Emerging Markets’, Journal of Macromarketing, Vol. 24(2): 136-146.
OR
Cornel Sandvoss, A Game of Two Halves: Football, Television and Globalization (Routledge 2003): 177-182 (Read First), 1-100, 137-165, 170-176.
Concepts/Themes:
Background:
Ackar Abbas and John Nguyet (2005). Internationalizing Cultural Studies: An Anthology. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.
Mehdi Semati, ed. (2004). New Frontiers in International Communication Theory. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlfield.
Arjun Appadurai (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Public World, V.1). Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
David Morley and Kevin Robins, ed. (1995). Spaces of Identity: Global Media, Electronic Landscapes, and Cultural Boundaries. New York: Routledge.
Frederic Jameson and Masao Miyoshi, ed. (1998). The Cultures of Globalization (Post-Contemporary Interventions). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
James Lull (2000). Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach. New York: Columbia University Press.
Steven Flusty (2003). De-Coca-Colonization: Making the Globe from the Inside Out. New York: Routledge.
Week 8, March 7th: Reading Popular Culture
Moderators: Alan Rhodes & Jason Rovito
Eva Illouz, Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery (Columbia University Press, 2003): 1-15, 47-156, 162-241.
Concepts/Themes:
Background:
Arthur Asa Berger, Popular Culture Genres: Theories and Texts (Feminist Perspectives on Communication) (Sage Publications, 1995), 3-81.
Janet Streiger (2005). Media Reception Theories. New York: NYU Press.
Raymond F. Betts (2004). A History of Popular Culture: More of Everything, Faster and Brighter. New York: Routledge.
Week 9, March 14th: Diasporic Media
Moderators: David Harmes, Cliff Vanderlinden & Zachary Devereaux
1. Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur, "Nation, Migration, Globalization: Points of Contention in Diaspora Studies" 1-22. In Jane Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur, ed. (2003). Theorizing Diaspora: A Reader (KeyWorks in Cultural Studies). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.
2. Karim H. Karim, "Mapping diasporic mediascapes" 1-17, AND Hamid Naficy, "Narrowcasting in diaspora, Middle Eastern television in Los Angeles" 51-62, AND Tony King "Rhodesians in hyperspace, The maintenance of a national and cultural identity" 177-188. In Karim Karim, The Media of Diaspora (Routledge 2003)
3. Richard Rogers and Anat Ben-David, "Coming to Terms. A conflict analysis usage, in offical and unofficial sources, of 'security fence,' 'apartheid wall,' and other terms for the structure between Israel and the Palestinian Territories" 1-29. The Govcom.org Foundation, Amsterdam (2005).
(also available for download at: www.govcom.org/full_list.html)
4. Yuan Shu, "Reimagining the Community: Information Technology and Web-based Chinese Language Networks in North America" 139-157. In Asian America.Net : Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace. (Routledge 2003)
Background:
Arjun Appadurai, "Here and Now" 173-179. In Nicholas Mirzeoff, ed. The Visual Culture Reader, 2nd Edition. (Routledge 2005)
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1993) Chapter 1: "Introduction" pp 1-8, Chapter 2 "Cultural Roots" pp 9-36, Chapter 3: "The Origins of National Consciousness" pp 41-49.
Rachel C. Lee and Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong, "Introduction" xiii - xxxv. In Asian America.Net : Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Cyberspace. (Routledge 2003)
Elizabeth Edwards, "A Palaver at Tutuila Samoa, 1883. Two Photographs by Captain William A.D. Acland" 48-53. In Bruno Latour & Peter Weibel eds. (2005), Making Things Public. Atmospheres of Democracy. ZKM Publication Program, Karlsruhe.
John Clammer (2002). Diaspora and Identity: The Sociology of Culture in Southeast Asia. Malaysia: Pelanduk Publications.
Paul Gilroy (2004). Postcolonial Melancholia (Wellek Library Lectures). New York: Columbia University Press.
In-class diasporic media examples:
Shabda (magazine)
The Windmill (newspaper)
Concepts/Themes:
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (1991). Time and Timing: Law and History. In John Bender and David E. Wellberry, ed., Chronotypes: The Construction of Time (99-117). Stanford: Stanford University Press: 99-117.
Gayatri Gopinath (2003). Nostalgia, Desire, Diaspora: South Asian Sexualities in Motion In Jane Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur, ed. Theorizing Diapora (Keywords in Cultural Studies, 6). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Saskia Sassen (1998). Globalization and Its Discontents: Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money. New York: New Press.
Week 10, March 21st: Transnationalism
Moderators: Greg Sharzer & Nicholas Balaisis
Interpal Grewal, Transnational America: Feminisms, Diasporas, Neoliberalisms (Duke, 2005), 1-34, 121-157, 158-195, 196-220.
Concepts/Themes:
Background:
Rachel C. Lee and Sau-Ling Cynthia Wong, ed. (2003). AsianAmerica.Net: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Cyberspace. New York: Routledge.
Week 11, March 28th: Digitalization
Moderators: Zachary Devereaux, Ana Friz & Nick Anderson
** Class location: Ryerson, EPH 334 **
Stephen Kline, et al, Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing (McGill Queen’s, 2003): 3-26, 169-192, 197-217.
Concepts/Themes:
Background:
Andrew F. Wood and Matthew J. Smith (2005). Online Communication: Linking Technology, Identity, and Culture. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Christine Hine (2000). Virtual Ethnography. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications.
Martin Lister, et al. (2003). New Media: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.
Richard Holt (2004). Dialogue on the Internet: Language, Civic Identity, and Computer-Mediated Communication. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger.
Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall (2003). Web Theory: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
Steven G. Jones, ed. (1998). Doing Internet Research: Critical Issues and Methods for Examining the Net. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications. (Look at this)
Week 12, April 4th: New Spaces of Media
Moderators: Lynn Chalmers & Jean-Charles Bellemare
Nick Couldry, et al, Mediaspace: Place, Scale and Culture in a Media Age (Routledge, 2004): 1-18, 21-36, 37-57, 95-113, 126-144, 193-208, 275-293.
Concepts/Themes:
Background:
Anna McCarthy (2003). Ambient Television: Visual Culture and Public Space (Console-ing Passions). Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
John Macgregor Wise (1997). Exploring Technology and Social Space. California: Sage Publications.
Kester Rattenbury, ed. (2001). This is Not Architecture: Media Constructions. Routledge: London.
Murray Forman (2002). The ‘Hood Comes First: Race, Space, and Place in Rap and Hip-Hop (Music/Culture). Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
Michael Indergaard (2004). Silicon Alley: The Rise and Fall of a New Media District. New York: Routledge.
Michel De Certeau (2002). The Practice of Everyday Life. Trans. by Steven Rendall. California: University of California Press.
Phil Hubbard, et al, ed. (2004). Key Thinkers on Space and Place. California: Sage Publications.
Week 13, Monday, April 10th: Thinking Through The Body
Moderators: Steven Schnoor & Darcey Callison
Jacques Derrida (2002). "The Animal That Therefore I Am (More to Follow)." Trans. David Wills. Critical Inquiry 28.2 (Winter 02): 369-418.
Michael Steinberg (2005). "What
is the Human Subject?" and "Linguistic Totalitarianism"
(ch. 1 & 4) from The Fiction of a Thinkable World: Body,
Meaning, and the Culture of Capitalism (Monthly Review).
Chris Shilling (2005). "Classical Bodies" and "Contemporary Bodies" (ch. 2 & 3) from The Body in Culture, Technology & Society (Sage). p. 24-72.
Sarah Salih, ed. (2004). "Introduction." The Judith Butler Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Background / Supplemental Reading:
Friedrich Nietzsche (1873). "On Truth and Falsity in their Extramoral Sense." In Essays on Metaphor. Ed. Warren Shibles. U of Wisconsin, 1972. p. 1-13.
Judith Butler (2000). "Politics, Power and Ethics: A Discussion Between Judith Butler and William Connolly." Theory & Event 4.2.
Mariam Fraser and Monica Greco (2005). "Introduction." The Body: A Reader. (Routledge). p. 1-35.
Selections from the Fraser & Greco volume: Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception, Butler's Bodies that Matter, and Foucault's Discipline & Punish.
David Jay Brown & Rebecca McClen Novick, with Jerry Garcia (1995). "Tales of the Living Dead." In Voices from the Edge: Conversations With Jerry Garcia, Ram Dass, Annie Sprinkle, Matthew Fox, Jaron Lanier, & Others. Crossing Press. p. 54-77.