Summer 2023 - CMNS 452 D100

Race and the Media (4)

Class Number: 1175

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 8 – Aug 4, 2023: Mon, 9:30 a.m.–1:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    75 units including one of CMNS 202 (or 262), 220, 221, 223 (or 223W), with a minimum grade of C-, and at least two CMNS upper division courses with a minimum grade of C-.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines the contemporary construction and maintenance of race and ethnicity, through movies, music, and the Internet. Provides grounding in scholarship on media, race, ethnicity, and identity. Explores the historical role of entertainment in racialization. Investigates contemporary issues and forms of media and race. Students who have taken CMNS 486 with subtitle "Race and the Media" cannot take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

Entertainment and the arts are key sites of production and conduits for the circulation of cultural signs and stories about race and ethnicity. These signs and stories form a system of meanings that structure how we see social identities and frame our actions. While film, music, television, news, art, the Internet, video games, and sports have been converging under the title of entertainment, they permeate the most intimate aspects of our everyday lives and our social institutions.

Through the critical consumption of a wide variety of media, this course will examine the construction and maintenance of race and ethnicity. It will provide grounding in scholarship on race, ethnicity, and identity; explore the historical role of entertainment in racialization; investigate contemporary issues and forms of media; and consider the role of “new” media. Media is a site of struggle over the meaning of race, and how it interacts with other forms of difference, such as gender, class, and sexuality. At stake in this ongoing negotiation is who we are as a society, and as individuals, and who we can become.

Grading

  • Seminar Participation 15%
  • Thinking & Learning Journal 25%
  • Paper/Creative Project Proposal 20%
  • Final Paper/Creative Project 40%

NOTES:

Assignments/Grading subject to change with notice.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

A set of readings will be made available via Canvas.

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/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

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the semester are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.