Fall 2015 - CMNS 830 G100
Popular Culture and Media Theory (5)
Class Number: 6166
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
-
Course Times + Location:
Sep 8 – Dec 7, 2015: Fri, 10:30 a.m.–2:20 p.m.
Vancouver
-
Instructor:
Zoe Druick
druick@sfu.ca
778-782-2328
Office: HC-7462
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
Examines recent debates in popular culture and media theory, including post-modernism, hegemony, resistance and culture at the margin.
COURSE DETAILS:
The course is structured by an analysis of the place of media in the dialogic relationship between popular cultures from above and below. Considering subjectivity, and the body as technologies through which the violent possibilities of modernization have occurred, the course traces a history of enclosure, dispossession, biopolitics, hegemony and resistance as part of the on-going experience of multiple modernities. The course explores the conflicted ideas of the popular through wide-ranging theoretical analyses of the monstrous, uncanny, abject and repressed, as well as through the assessment of popular figures such as witches, pirates, vampires, zombies and aliens. The media – modern signifying machines – are considered in two ways. Both as contributors to popular experiences of the reconfiguration of traditions, subjectivities, and social and political life; and as compelling cyphers. Students are expected to engage actively in the seminar, giving presentations as well as participating on a weekly basis. By the end of the class, students will be familiar with some of the essential debates and ideas that have structured the interdisciplinary study of popular culture and media.
Grading
- Short Paper (2000-2500 words - due week 6) 25%
- Term Paper (3500-4000 [MA]; 5000-6000 [PhD]; - due December 18) 50%
- Presentation 10%
- Class Participation 10%
- Presentation of Work in Progress (December 11) 5%
NOTES:
The school expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relation to established university-wide practices with respect to both levels and distribution of grades. In addition, the School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 as regards Student Discipline. [Note: as of May 1, 2009 the previous T10 series of policies covering Intellectual Honesty (T10.02), and Academic Discipline (T10.03) have been replaced with the new S10 series of policies.]
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Foucault, Michel, History of Sexuality. New York: Vintage, 1990.
ISBN: 9780679724698
Available at SFU Vancouver Bookstore, and as an electronic copy through the SFU library. All other readings will be available as pdfs on the course website. Additional material is on reserve at Belzberg Library.
Graduate Studies Notes:
Important dates and deadlines for graduate students are found here: http://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/current/important_dates/guidelines.html. The deadline to drop a course with a 100% refund is the end of week 2. The deadline to drop with no notation on your transcript is the end of week 3.
Registrar Notes:
SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://students.sfu.ca/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS