Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2025 - CMNS 315 D100

Topics in Media, Difference, and Intersectional Identities (4)

Indigenous Media and FIlm

Class Number: 2984

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Mon, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    17 CMNS units with a minimum grade of C- or 45 units with a minimum CGPA of 2.00.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Focus on how media play a role in the representation, construction, and circulation of difference and identities by drawing from feminist theories, cultural studies and/or political economy to critique dominant conceptions. Topics may include how difference and identities intersect with: gaming, film, and technology. This course can be repeated twice for credit if the topics are different (up to a maximum of three times). Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Topic for Fall 2025:  Indigenous Cinema, Television, and Digital Media

Indigenous film and television creators have received unprecedented visibility in recent years, not the least because of the mainstream popularity of the streaming series Reservation Dogs (FX). Maori filmmaker and producer Taika Waititi won Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit at the 2019 Academy Awards; Sami and Blackfoot director Elle-Máijá Apiniskim Tailfeathers’ 2019 film The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open was picked up for distribution through Ava Duvernay’s company, Array; the sitcom Rutherford Falls aired on Peacock from 2021-2023. These developments are a part of a boom in Indigenous media that has taken place in North America over the past three decades, leading to a media landscape made up of film, television, and digital media.

This course will examine the rise of Indigenous media in North America. We will examine the historical, social, and institutional dimensions of Indigenous media production in order to make visible its scope and diversity, and closely engage the theoretical frameworks needed to understand and interpret these works. Through readings, lectures, screenings, and assignments, students will start by examining Indigenous media from the history of images of “the Indian” constructed by Hollywood and anthropology, toward investigation of different forms of Indigenous production, which not only challenge and transform colonial image culture but are shaped and defined by Indigenous perspectives and priorities. Students will employ media and cultural theory alongside Indigenous critical theory to analyze how the field has developed, evolved, and flourished.

Grading

  • Note: Grading will be confirmed at first lecture
  • Contributions (Participation) 15%
  • Weekly Reading Response of 350-500 Words 20%
  • Term Paper Prospectus 15%
  • Term Paper (10-12 pages) 50%

NOTES:

The School expects that the grades awarded in this course will bear some reasonable relationship to established university-wide practices.  In addition, the School will follow Policy S10.01 with respect to Academic Integrity, and Policies S10.02, S10.03 and S10.04 with regard to Student Discipline.  For further information visit:  www.sfu.ca/policies/Students/index.html.

NOTE -- Tutorials do not start in Week 1 (3-9 September 2025) -- unless specified by the Instructor.  If your tutorial is scheduled to occur prior to your first lecture -- please check with the course Canvas page, or with your Instructor (via email), to find out if you will have a tutorial in the first week of Fall Semester 2025.   If your tutorial occurs after the first lecture, then just ask in the first lecture whether or not there will be tutorials during Week 1.

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Required Readings will be available on Canvas under "Files".

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

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term 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.