Comparative Cultural Studies: Explored Through Media

Please note this course is a General University Requirements (GUR) class. This class fulfills BLOCK B – Primary emphasis inside North America. Provides an introduction to multicultural experiences and the cultural expressions of minority groups. BCGM.

Please note that this class cannot be used as a substitute for ES201.

Course Description

Using media as a primary source of documentation, this class will critically analyze the narratives, the epistemologies, the social structures and the organization of society. More specifically, this class will use feature films, documentaries, podcasts, and even video art to identify the social constructions of race, class, gender, and sexuality in American culture, both historically and in contemporary society, with an emphasis on the experiences of subjugated/colonized and minoritized people in the United States. Recognizing that media is often used as a powerful pedagogical force to exercise control over people, this class will help students develop the skills to critically examine visual and aural productions and identify their relationships to maintaining societal norms and power hierarchies. In addition, students will learn how progressive artists and activists are using media as a form of direct political activism to counter the status quo. Accompanying the films and other media productions, students will read historical and theoretical writings on the process through which genocide and colonialism, biological determinism, racial formation, racial capitalism, patriarchy, heterosexism, oppressive immigration laws and the war on “terror” have erased the voices, cultures, contributions and lives of millions. This course also acknowledges and explores methods and movements of resistance/persistence, survivance, and non-violent direct action through media productions by subjugated/colonized and minoritized people to achieve a more just and equitable society.

Through reading texts, watching films, participating in large and small group discussions, defining cultural terminology, writing short papers and joint collaborative pieces, the class will grapple with the broad societal questions about race, privilege and power. Films include “Rashomon,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Drums Along the Mohawk,” and “Rhymes for Young Ghouls.”