v. tr. 2: to provide knowledge of
syn: edification
[experience]
e58.2275
middle east media and cultural politics [new york university]
spring 2008
Overview
This course will examine developments of culture, media and politics in
the
contemporary Middle East (mostly the Arab world). The focus will be primarily
on the changing media and cultural landscape of the past fifteen years,
ranging from Islamic televangelists to pop-stars, from bloggers to debates
about ‘fundamentalism’, from fashion to the phenomenon called
Dubai. Various theories, media forms and geographic/national foci will
be discussed through readings and audio-visual materials. This course
is relevant to graduate students interested in the modern Middle East
and the Arab world, and those interested in media globalization and its
relationship to politics, economics, and religion in any part of the world.
e58.2001
media, culture, and communication core seminar [new york university]
fall 2007
fall 2008
Overview
This course examines core theoretical approaches to the study of media
and communication. It provides students with an historical and critical
overview of theory and research on communication, everyday social practices,
systems of representation, and media environments (required for all first
semester graduate students).
e59.1200
islam, media and the west [new york university]
fall 2007
fall 2008
Overview
This course examines contemporary media in the Middle East and the US
and their relationship to the perceived rift between Islam and the West.
Readings and examples from television, film and journalism focus on the
politics of culture, religion and modernity, gender and national identity
as they shape and intersect with contemporary geopolitical events, cultural
formations and media globalization.
e59.2401
media and globalization: new york and amsterdam [new york university]
summer 2007
Overview
In conjunction with the Department of Communications at the Amsterdam
School of Communications Research (ASCoR) at the University of Amsterdam
(UvA), this summer study abroad program focuses on a cross-national comparison
of media and globalization. Through an intensive series of lectures, discussions,
seminars and site visits, participants explore topics including the emergence
of transnational media corporations; the cross-cultural impact of production
strategies employed by media corporations; the effect of new communication
technologies in virtual and public spaces; the growth of minority media
and immigrant identities; and specific differences between media systems,
industries, and practices between Europe and North America.
spring 2007
Overview
With the recent rise, and fear, of a ‘fundamentalist’ Islamic
response to a post-9/11 world and the growing globalization of mass media
in the Middle East, this is a pertinent time to investigate the recent
explosion of contemporary media and cultural production in the region.
Over the course of the past decade, the media landscape in the Middle
East has been transformed, even though many forms of media have a long
history in the region (Egyptian music and North African cinema for example).
There are televised discussions of gender and family issues; song-writers
and musicians whose material and modes of expression challenge received
traditions; bloggers who use the Internet to criticize governments and
extend the limit of public debate; talk shows that encourage diverse opinions
and practice live antagonistic debate; ‘fundamentalist’ groups
who have created videogames; performance artists developing new hybrid
forms of political art; diaspora activists who develop de-territorialized
modes of political engagement with old and new homes; and increasingly
mediated election campaigns.
This course will look at these developments through a historical and cultural
lens by examining the interplay of culture, politics and media in the
contemporary Middle East. Theories, media forms and geographic/national
foci will be presented through readings and audio-visual materials, and
will address the following topics: gender, national and diasporic identities
and culture; culture as a site of contestation and struggle; the impact
of globalization on Arab mass media; the connections between civil society,
democracy and Islam. This course should be of interest to any graduate
student interested in the modern Middle East and/or in contemporary issues
of media and globalization.
spring 2006
spring 2007
spring 2008
Overview
Students in this course will understand, analyze and critique the promises
of information, communication and media technologies to alleviate economic,
political and social problems that have driven national strategies in
the ‘Third World’ over the past sixty years. Part One of the
course focuses on the history of mainstream development in general and
as it applies to media and communication technologies. Part Two will ‘reverse’
everything that has been learned in Part One, by exposing some of the
problems with development through theories against mainstream development
and case studies where development has ‘failed’ to achieve
its promises. In Part Three, on the Middle East, Africa, Latin America
and Asia, every class will be dedicated to a particular country (to be
voted on), whereby readings will consist of brief historical and economic
contexts, followed by case-studies of how information, communication and/or
media technology development programs have been adopted, and how and why
they have failed or succeeded.
spring 2006
spring 2007
Overview
This course introduces students of communication studies to some of the
issues and theories that have been central to the study of mediated forms
of communication. It will examine the factors that influence the media,
and in turn, the influence of media on culture and society. We will try
to understand what it means to live in a ‘media age.’ Students
will be expected to develop analytical appreciation of the strengths and
weaknesses of various media theories and to arrive at some thoughtful
conclusions regarding their own theoretical preferences.
fall 2005
Overview
We have all heard terms such as “the global village,” “the
Information age,” “the network society,” and “a
global public sphere,” used to describe our contemporary (communicative)
condition. This course will precisely deal with these notions and question
the assumptions, theories, paradoxes and realities behind them through
the lens of media and globalization. In short, the two over-arching goals
of this course are: one, to briefly introduce us to the variety of ways
cultural and social theorists have addressed notions of “globalization”
and the media; and two, to focus our eyes and research concerns beyond
the United States by discussing media systems and cultural concerns in
other nations, with particular focus on the non-Western world.
In our search for deeper understanding we will cover a range of topics,
from the basic to the complex, from the centered to the fragmented. We
will begin with fundamental theories on the nature and content of international
media, the world political and economic order, the relationship of globalization
and modernity, the imbalanced flow of information in the world and accusations
of cultural imperialism. In the second half of the course we will explore
different approaches to the culture/globalization relationship and familiarize
ourselves with notions and debates around issues of media as an agent
for national development, the clash of civilizations, “McDonaldization,”
“de-territorialization,” “hybridity” and “border
identities” as well as concepts of (trans-)national identity and
media’s role in conflict and peace. Throughout the readings and
discussions our focus will shift from one nation, region, and/or continent
to another.