COMM 3100 syllabus PDF

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COMM3100 Syllabus
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COMM 3100 Critical Communication Theories Prof. Rolien Hoyng SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG Course Description This course is an overview of a selected list of critical communication theories—that is, theories that aim at analyzing and critiquing the role of media and communication in maintaining, reinforcing, legitimizing, and at times negotiating and resisting the reproduction and operations of power, inequalities, and ideologies in contemporary societies. Many of the theories covered were developed by social and cultural theorists. But the theories have wide-ranging implications for our understanding of media and communication. Learning Objectives and Outcomes 1. Become familiar with concepts which interrogate the interplay between modern media and the production, reproduction and transformation of the contemporary social order. 2. Understand and critique the role of the media in sustaining power and inequalities in contemporary societies. 3. Sensitize yourself to the potential and obstacles posed by media production and consumption for social change. Participation (20%) Lecture and tutorial both require your attendance and active participation. Think about the reading questions before tutorial and share your ideas and observations even when you are not the presenter. A portion of the tutorial session will be devoted to developing your research project in a supportive, conversational environment. With the assistance of your tutor, you will help each other sharpen your research focus, locate relevant material, and experiment with new ideas. Tutorial presentation (10%) In tutorials, you will take turn to give presentations. Generally speaking, the presentations shall focus on that week’s material, including both the lecture and the reading, but you are encouraged to bring in your own examples, observations and analysis. The tutors will provide you with more details about the format and expectation of tutorial presentations. Mid-term and Final-term exams (30%) These will be two exams lasting 20 to 30 minutes, each weighing 15%. Questions are MC questions and short-answer questions related to the concepts introduced in the assigned readings and lectures of corresponding weeks. Weekly reading questions serve as your study guide. Final Research Paper (40%) In a team of 2-3 students, you will produce a final essay (2000 words in English, not including bibliography). In this essay, your will apply the theories and concepts learned in this course to

the analysis of any real-world phenomenon that involves media in its broadest sense. You will start developing a research topic as early as possible. A one-page project outline is due by week 9, March 12. The instructor will meet all the teams to discuss project development in week 10. The final essay is due [TBA]. At the end of the paper, add a paragraph outlining the individual contributions and collaborative dynamics of your team.

Grading Tutorial attendance & participation Tutorial presentation Mid-term and final-term exams Final research paper

20 % 10 % 30 % 40 %

Feedback for evaluation Students are welcome to give comments and feedback at any time during the class. Stop by to talk to the course teacher or teaching assistants. You can also send us emails. References on Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/. With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures. In the case of group projects, all students of the same group should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible should there be any plagiarized contents in the group project, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has contributed directly or indirectly to the plagiarized contents. For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students' uploading of the soft copy of the assignment. Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded by teachers. Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide. The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be

regarded as having committed undeclared multiple submission. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work. The declaration form to be attached to assignments can be found http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/Eng_htm_files_(2013-14)/p10.htm Contact Information of Teaching Members

Lecturer:

Name

Rolien Hoyng

Office Location:

102 Humanities Building

Telephone:

39435300

Email:

[email protected]

Teaching Time & Venue:

Mondays 10:30-13.15, Humanities Building 115

Consultation Hours:

By Appointment

Teaching Assistants:

Name:

Office Location:

Telephone:

Lu Miao Liew Hattie Hanming Zhang Xiao Grace

at:

[email protected] (LU) Email:

[email protected] (LIEW) [email protected] (ZHANG)

Time and Venue of Tutorial

TBC

Consultation Hours:

By Appointment

Reading Assignments per week NB Changes to the assigned readings may take place with one week’s notice. Please check Blackboard and monitor your email for updates. Extra Resources Listed extra resources have multiple functions: I use these titles in my lectures; we might read excerpts in class; you can consult them for your assignments; and you can familiarize yourself with the theoretical background of larger debates. You will not always find PDFs corresponding to these titles uploaded online, in which case you will have to consult the CUHK library. Course Schedule Week 1 – Jan 8: What is critical communication theory? Grossberg, Lawrence, Ellen Wartella e.a. (2006). “Media in Context.” Mediamaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture (pp.3-33). London: Sage Publications. Extra: Gitlin, Todd (1978/1995). “Media Sociology: The Dominant Paradigm.” O. Boyd-Barrett & C. Newbold (eds.), Approaches to Media: A Reader (pp. 21-32). London: Arnold.

Week 2 – Jan 15: Political economy of the media Croteau, David and William Hoynes (2014). “The Economics of the Media Industry” and “Political Influence on Media.” Media/Society: Industry, Images, and Audience. Los Angeles and London: Sage. (Selections: pp. 33-53 and 73-91)

Week 3 – Jan 22: Commodification of culture Storey, John (2012). “Marxism.” Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (pp.4770). New York: Routledge. Extra: Adorno, Theodor and Max Horkheimer (1944). “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.” The Dialectic of Enlightenment. Available at: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm Baudrillard, Jean (1994). “The Hyperreal and the Imaginary on Disneyland.” Simulacra and Simulation (pp.12-14). Michigan: University of Michigan Press. Week 4 – Jan 29: Ideology Grossberg, Lawrence, Ellen Wartella, e.a. (2006). “Ideology.” MediaMaking: Mass Media in a Popular Culture. London: Sage Publications. Extra: Lennan, Gregor (2005). “Power.” Tony Bennett, Lawrence Grossberg, Meaghan Morris (eds). New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society (pp. 274-278). Malden and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Week 5 – Feb 5: Affect Sharma, Devika and Frederik Tygstrup (2015). “Introduction.” Structures of Feeling: Affectivity and the Study of Culture (pp. 1-19). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH. Extra: Anderson, Ben. “Affective Life.” Encountering Affect. Surrey: Ashgate. (Selection: pp. 1-12, 124-131) Ma, Eric. (2007) “Emotional Energy and Sub-Cultural Politics: Alternative Bands in Post-1997 Hong Kong.” Kuan-Hsing Chen and Chua Beng Huat (eds.) Inter-Asian Cultural Studies Reader. Oxon and New York: Routledge.

Week 6 – Feb 12: Representation and the other Hall, Stuart (1997). “The Spectacle of the Other.” Stuart Hall (ed.) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London/Thousand Oaks: Sage. (Selection: pp. 225264)

Extra: Ang, Ien (2005). “Difference.” Tony Bennett, Lawrence Grossberg, Meaghan Morris (eds). New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society (pp. 84-87). Malden and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Storey, John (2012). “Structuralism and Poststructuralism.” Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (pp. 111-134). New York: Routledge.

Week 7 – Feb 26: Discourse and power Frow, John (2005). “Discourse.” Tony Bennett, Lawrence Grossberg, Meaghan Morris (eds). New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society (pp. 91-93). Malden and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Ku, Agnes Shuk-mei (2007). “Constructing and Contesting the ‘Order’ Imagery in Media Discourse: Implications for Civil Society in Hong Kong.” Asian Journal of Communication 17(2): 186-200. Extra: Feder, Ellen (2014). “Power/Knowledge.” Dianne Taylor (ed.) Michel Foucault: Key Concepts. Oxon and New York: Routledge.

Week 8 – Mar 5: Active audience and participatory users Jenkins, Henry (2013) “What Constitutes Meaningful Participation?” Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture (pp. 153-194). New York and London: New York University Press. Extra: Hartley, John (2003). “The Ordinary as a Sign of Itself Culture and Everyday Life (travelling, shopping, walking, eating).” A Short History of Cultural Studies. London: Sage. Hall, Stuart. (1997) “Encoding, Decoding.” Stuart Hall (ed.) Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (pp. 128-138). London/Thousand Oaks: Sage. Week 9 – Mar 12: Beyond hegemony? Harsin, Jayson (2015). “Regimes of Posttruth, Postpolitics, and Attention Economies.” Communication, Culture & Critique 8: 327–333. Watch: Zuckerberg on fake news accusations: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=WLcYugM68aU&t=323s

Extra: John Farkas (forthcoming). “Fake News as a Floating Signifier: Hegemony, Antagonism, and the Struggle over Falsehood.” Javnost-The Public. Birchall, Clare (2006). “Know It All.” Knowledge Goes Pop: From Conspiracy Theory to Gossip. Oxford and New York: Berg. Week 10 – Mar 19: Individual team meetings

Week 11 – Mar 26: Platforms and networks Van Dijck, Jose (2013). “The Paradox of Trending and Following.” The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media (pp.68-88). Oxford and New York: Oxford Press. Week 12 – Apr 9: Communication and ecology Choy, Timothy (2011) “Problems of a Political Nature.” Ecologies of Comparison. An Ethnography of Endangerment in Hong Kong. Durham: Duke University Press. Selection: Section 1 until “Knowledge Practices in Environmental Politics.” Maxwell, Richard and Toby Miller (2012). “Consumers.” Greening the Media (pp. 22-41). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Extra: Latour, Bruno (2014). “Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene.” New Literary History 45: 118. Brevini, Benedetta (2017). Carbon capitalism and Communication. Palgrave Macmillan. (TBA)

Week 13 – Apr 16: Final presentations...