Introduction
If we are not educated, we cannot think much at all, yet if we are educated we risk being dominated by ready-made thoughts. The professor is simultaneously someone very dangerous and indispensable, someone we cannot do without, and someone of whom we must be exceedingly distrustful. This is my message to the young. I say it laughingly, but I think it is very serious. Bourdieu, Thinking About Limits, 1992.
This subject aims to provide students with foundational knowledge in theories of communication and culture and the opportunity to apply these theories to a range of contemporary social issues, and to communication texts and practices.
Tuition is based on a learner-centred-learning (LCL) model. That is, teaching staff will facilitate, assist and direct the development of knowledge and skills by students. They will not be parcelling knowledge in packages for consumption by students, as in a teacher-centred-learning (TCL) model.
As a first year subject, it also uses a learning-to-learn approach. As students learn about communication and culture they will also be learning about constructing an argument, working cooperatively, doing a research project, etc.
It aims to develop in students the ability to:
* analyse cultural texts
* understand the social construction of meaning
* apply theories of representation to contemporary media products
* engage with relevant social issues in aspects of communication
LCL Major Goal of Teacher: To generate knowledge from students
LCL Students' Relationship With Their Peers Collaborative
LCL Type of Knowledge Learned: `Deep' knowledge (e.g. analysis, exploration, synthesis, application, evaluation)
LCL Control Over Rate of Learning: Students largely control their rate of learning
Allows students to have more control over their rate of learning
Allows students to take greater responsibility for acquiring knowledge
Allow students to obtain knowledge in a collaborative, reflective and systematic fashion
Usually results in a higher grade, if students manage their groups effectively
DISADVANTAGES
Students must attend all sessions
Some students may perceive that they are being penalised by group assessment
Some students may perceive that they are being coerced into communicating with others
Students must take responsibility for managing their groups
It may seem at times that you are trying to get a drink of water from a fire hose, but try to read for the essential ideas rather than attempting to understand every word. Read the texts that develop your interests or fit in with your overall goals. Read selectively.
Content analysis is a method of analysing the content of texts in such a way that statistical evidence is produced. Essentially the researcher hypothesises categories in the material (e.g. types of violence in children's television) and then counts their frequency of occurrence, drawing some conclusion from the results.
Participant observation is a way of analysing a text or event by taking part in the activity that is being observed (e.g. a screening of a film). The purpose of such research is to describe the communication event in a way that is as faithful as possible to the way it would have been experienced by the participants.
In-depth interviewing is a method of asking a relatively small sample of people questions in a face-to-face context. This method tends to be used in case-studies that cannot be generalised across other groups (e.g. Thursday nights in Nobbys car park). It can also be used in conjunction with participant-observation techniques.
Surveys are a method of asking a large sample of people a series of questions (perhaps to gauge a response to an advertisement). To be effective the sample must be representative of the entire population, and the questions rigorously constructed, so that generalisations can be drawn.
Researchers in the social sciences have, within arms' reach, just at their fingertips, preconstructed facts which are wholly fabricated ... we should practice radical doubt. Bourdieu, Thinking About Limits, 1992.
Getting team members to talk: Some students may find it difficult to participate in group discussions for a variety of reasons. Each group will need to find its own strategy for ensuring equal participation in `brainstorming' sessions. One method is to have everyone make a statement on the topic. The statements may be written down but are not commented on, and anyone can say `I pass' at their turn. After several rounds the statements are `disowned' and discussed objectively.
Getting team members to stop talking: Highly articulate and/or verbose students can produce as much tension as introverted ones, by dominating discussions. One strategy is for all group members to complete a Post-meeting Reaction Form, anonymously, and circulate it to everyone else. Members can then discuss everyone's perceptions of the group dynamics. Or use some version of the conch trick from Lord of the Flies, to prevent interruptions.
1. Ignoring Ä Not listening at all
2. Pretending Ä Not really listening; yeah, h-huh
3. Selecting Ä Hearing only certain parts of the conversation
4. Attending Ä Paying attention and focusing energy on the words being said
Too many cooks: There are certain tasks which a group of five won't be able to do jointly. Divide into groups of two or three, or even assign individual tasks in some instances. However, it is essential that sub-groups report back, and that skills developed individually are shared with the group. For example, the one person with stats experience shouldn't be asked to individually deal with everything statistical.
Using the example above, the first four students would receive 35 marks, Paul would get 28.
The characteristics of ineffective groups:
Research has shown that ineffective groups have the following traits:
Failure to listen to what other members are saying
Constantly reiterating arguments
Constantly interrupting
Trying to put others down
Failure to participate
Silent members not drawn in
Dominant members allowed to control proceedings
Everyone pushing own view, not clarifying, developing, encouraging
Unwillingness to accommodate others' views or needs
Raising irrelevant or unhelpful points
Not recognising how members are feeling about the discussion
Concentrating on making impressions rather than getting the task completed
Failure to be aware of the effect of one's contributions on other members
Disturbing the overall process with private conversations
Failure to clarify the task or objective
Failure to follow agreed directions and procedures
The characteristics of effective groups:
Members are skilled in all the various leadership and membership roles and functions
The group has developed a well established, relaxed working relationship
There is loyalty among members
Values and goals are in harmony
All problem solving, decision making etc. occurs in a supportive, trusting atmosphere
All the material contributed to the group is treated as `ours'
Constructive use is made of criticism
Members do not take disagreements personally or confuse rejection of ideas as rejection of the individual
The group is eager to help each member develop to his/her full potential
There is strong motivation from each member to communicate full and frankly to the group all the information which is relevant and of value to the group's activities
1. How would you rate the success of this meeting and why?
2. What factors affected the way that the group functioned?
3. What were the most and/or least productive events or periods of discussion? Can you
explain them?
4. What would have improved this particular meeting?
5. What was resolved or accomplished by the end of the meeting?
Screening: Making a difference
Text: Kress G. (1988). Communication and culture. Kress, G. (ed.), Communication and culture: an introduction, Kensington NSW: New South Wales University Press, 3-19.
Optional Readings:
Adorno T (1992) The culture industry: selected essays. New York: Routledge.
Brummett B (1991) Rhetorical dimensions of popular culture. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.
Corner J & Hawthorne J (eds) (1993) Communication studies: an introductory reader. London: Edward Arnold.
Fiske J (1990) Introduction to communication studies. London: Routledge.
Fitzgerald TK (1993) Metaphors of identity: a culture-communication dialogue. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Gudykunst WB Ting-Toomey S & Chua E (1988) Culture and interpersonal communication.
Newbury Park: Sage.
Schirato T & Yell S (1996) Communication and cultural literacy. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin.
Sullivan T et al (1994) Key concepts in communication and cultural studies. London: Routledge.
Thwaites T Davis L & Mules W (1994) Tools for cultural studies. Melbourne: Macmillan.
Willams R (1976) Keywords. New York: Oxford University Press.
Workshop Groups: Communication, meaning and culture.
1 Communication is about meaning.
2 It is about the production and consumption of meaning in actual processes of communication.
3 The processes of communication take place in a socially and culturally formed world. Analyse a particular communication text using these and other ideas from the set text as a framework. Report to the tutorial group.
Screening: Excerpts from Truth or Dare, video clips
Text: hooks b (1994) Madonna, plantation mistress or soul sister?. G Dinez & J Humez (eds) Gender, race and class in the media. Newbury Park CA: Sage.
Optional Readings:
Brown JD (1990) The effects of race, gender and fandom on audience interpretations of Madonna's music videos Journal of Communication V40 Spring:88-102.
Cranny-Francis A (1992) Engendered fiction: analysing gender in the production and reception of texts. Kensington: New South Wales University Press.
Di Piero T (1992) White men aren't Camera Obscura N30 May:112-137.
hooks b (1992) Black looks: race and representation Toronto, Between the Lines.
Jhally S & Lewis J (1992) Enlightened racism: the Cosby Show, audiences and the myth of the American dream Boulder CO, Westview Press.
Macdonald M (1995) Representing Women: myths of femininity in the popular media. London, Edward Arnold.
Minh-ha T (1991) When the moon waxes red: representation, gender and cultural politics. New York, Routledge.
Nederveen PJ (1992) White on black: images of Africa and Black in western popular culture. New Haven CT, Yale University Press.
Roberts D (1994) The myth of Aunt Jemima: representations of race and region. New York, Routledge.
Vest D (1992) Primetime pilots: a content analysis of changes in gender representation Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media V36 Winter:25-43.
Workshop Groups: Citation exercise using bell hooks.
1. On page 28 the words see, essence, and blondes are in inverted commas. Explain why each word is treated this way.
2. What is the essential idea in paragraph two (For masses of black women ... embody)? Express this idea in your own words.
3. Comment on the meaning of Madonna's crotch grabbing gesture, quoting ideas or words from the text.
4. Directly quote the passage about some people having to get hurt in a revolution (p.32), in a paragraph of your own.
5. Use an apt quote from the article in an introductory or concluding paragraph for an essay entitled Ä Madonna: at the margins.
6. Give details of the hooks article as it would appear in a bibliography.
Put your name on your work and hand it in.
Screening: Media excerpts.
Text: Sanders N (1988) Angles on the image. G Kress (ed) Communication and culture: an
introduction. Kensington, NSW: New South Wales University Press:134-154.
Optional readings:
Barthel D (1988) Putting on appearances: gender and advertising. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Barthes R (1977) Image, music, text New York: Hill & Wang.
Ewan S (1988) All consuming images: the politics of style in contemporary culture. New York: Basic Books.
Featherstone M (1990) Perspectives on consumer culture Sociology V24 Feb:5-22.
Jacobson MF & Mazur LA (1995) Marketing madness: a survival guide for a consumer society. Boulder CO: Westview Press.
Kress G & van Leeuwen T (1990) Reading images. Geelong Vic: Deakin University Press.
Mitchell WJT (1994) Picture theory: essays on verbal and visual representation. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Nichols B (1993) Representational images and ideology J Corner and J Hawthorne (eds) Communication studies: an introductory reader. London: Edward Arnold.
Workshop Groups: Selling Gender. Discuss advertisements in terms of viewing positions, sense of place, textuality and inter-textuality, signs, metaphor, metonymy, and myth.
Optional Readings:
Barthes R (1983) The fashion system New York, Hill & Wang
Chambers I (1986) Popular culture: the metropolitan experience London, Methuen
Davis Fred (1992) Fashion, culture and identity Chicago, University of Chicago Press
Hollander A (1994) Sex and Suits: the evolution of modern dress New York, Knopf
Myers K (1982) Fashion 'n Passion Screen N23:89-97
Willis S (1993) Hardcore: subculture American style Critical Inquiry V19 Winter:365-383
Workshop Groups: Make a statement of opinion on the topic `fashion, culture and identity'. Support your opinion with logical argument, statistics or other evidence, quotes from published sources, or other material.
Present your statement to the group.
Optional readings:
Bukatman S (1993) Terminal Identity Durham, Duke University Press
Dery M (1993) Flame Wars: the discourse of cyberculture Durham, Duke University Press
Mitchell WJ (1995) City of bits: place, space and the infobahn Cambridge MA, MIT Press
Postman Neil (1994) Technopoly: the surrender of culture to technology New York, Vintage
Rheingold H (1993) The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic
frontier New York, Addison-Wesley
Workshop Groups (two hours): Browse some of these e-zines:
Ben is Dead http://american.recordings.com/benisde/
bOING bOING http://www.zeitgeist.net/public/boing-boing
cake times http://itrc.on.ca/caketimes
Geekgirl http://www.gnn.com/gnn/wic/ezine.20.html
Progression http://www.gold.net/users/ex14/
10 things Jesus Wants You to Know http://weber.u.washington.edu/~ten/
Hotwired http://www.hotwired.com
Click http://www.click.com.au
Use these listings to find zines in a subject area of interest:
Factsheet 5 http://www.well.com/conf/f5/f5index2.html
Zine Kiosk http://www.wam.umd.edu/~ctmunson/zine_kiosk.html
John Labovitz's e-zine list http://www.meer.net/johnl/e-zine-list/
Use Net Search to track down more e-zines
Workshop Groups: HTML tutorial http://www.cwru.edu/help/introHTML/intro.html
Create an electronic zine using the template provided, and content brought to the workshop on floppy disk.
Check out How to make a Zine http://www.well.com/user/soapbox/zinetips.html
Optional readings:
Chambers I (1990) Urban rhythms: pop music and popular culture Houndmills, Hamps, Macmillan
Hanna JL (1988) Dance, sex, and gender: signs of identity, dominance, defiance and desire Chicago, University of Chicago Press
McClary S (1991) Feminine endings: music, gender and sexuality Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press
Nelson H & Gonzalez MA (1991) Bring the noise: a guide to rap and hip-hop culture New York, Harmony
Reynolds S & Press J (1995) The sex revolts: gender rebellion in rock and roll Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press
Rose T & Ross A (1994) Microphone fiends: youth music and youth culture New York, Routledge
Rose T (1995) Black noise: rap music and black culture in contemporary America University Press of New England
Shepherd J (1987) Music and male hegemony R Leppart & S McClary (eds) Music and society: the politics of composition, performance, and reception Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
Workshop Groups: Ain't nothing but a she thing Ä women and rap: individual presentations on gender, race and rap.
Optional readings:
Colishaw G (1993) Representing racial issues Oceania V63 Mar:183-194
Greenfield C & Williams P (1987/8) Aboriginal women, newspapers and the politics of culture Hecate V13 N2:76-106
James RT (1993) The political iconography of Aboriginality Oceania V63 March:207-221
Jennings K & Hollinsworth D (1987/8) Ways of seeing and speaking about aboriginal women Hecate V13 N2:113-133
Lattas A (1993) Essentialism, memory and resistance: Aboriginality and the politics of authenticity Oceania V63 March:207-221
Micheals E (1993) The fire ceremony: for a cultural future G Turner (ed) Nation, culture, text London, Routledge
Muecke S (1992) Available discourses on Aborigines Textual Spaces Kensington, NSW University Press
von Sturmer J (1989) Aborigines, representation, necrophilia Art & Text N32 Autumn:127-139
Workshop Groups: Representing race: discussion and freewriting on screening and texts.
Optional readings:
hooks b (1992) Marginality as a site of resistance L Grossberg C Nelson & PA Treichler (eds) Cultural studies New York, Routledge
hooks b (1994) Outlaw culture: resisting representation New York, Routledge & Kegan Paul
Jennings K (1987/8) Ways of seeing and speaking about Aboriginal women Hecate V13 N2:113-133
Meadows M (1994) Re-claiming a cultural identity Continuum V8 N2:270-292
Narrogin M (1990) Writing from the fringe Melbourne, Hyland House
Scott J (1990) Domination and the arts of resistance New Haven, Yale University Press
Workshop Groups: Marginality: Discussion and freewriting on texts and screening. Collage on race and representation using freewriting. Bring along to the workshop your writings from the last week, and some scissors and glue if you have them. Identify pieces of your writings that follow a single line of enquiry, and cut and paste them into a paper. After you have assembled it, tidy up the seams Ä you may have to supply some transitions, or add an opening paragraph and conclusion. Write your name on the finished paper and hand it in.
Optional readings:
Althusser L (1992) Ideology and ideological state apparatuses Easthope & McGowan
Browne ME (1990) Television and women's culture: the politics of the popular Newbury Park, Sage
Lewis J (1991) The ideological octopus: an exploration of television and its audience New York, Routledge
Tulloch J (1990) Television drama: agency, audience, and myth London, Routledge
Williams CT (1994) Perspectives: soap opera men in the 90s, signs of the fearful time Journal of Popular Film and Television V22 N3 Fall
Workshop Groups: "You talkin' to me?" Discussion of subjectivity and television drama.
Optional readings:
Greenberg HR (1991/92) The many faces of Thelma and Louise Film Quarterly V46 N2 Winter:188-196
Lull J (1995) Ideology, consciousness, hegemony Media, communication, culture Cambridge, Polity Press:6-43
Palmer J (1991) Narrative and ideology Potboilers: methods, concepts and case studies in popular fiction London, Routledge:89-102
Workshop Groups: Discussion: ideology and meaning in Thelma and Louise.
Optional readings:
Bird D (1993) Killing women: rewriting detective fiction Sydney, Angus & Robertson
Carr H (ed) (1989) From my guy to sci-fi: genre and women's writing in the postmodern world Pandora, London
Cranny-Francis A (1988) Gender and genre: feminist rewritings of detective fiction Women's Studies International Forum V11 N1:69-84
Godard B (1989) Sleuthing: feminists rewriting the detective novel Signature: Journal of Theory and Canadian Literature V1 Summer:45-70
Klein KG (1988) The woman detective: gender and genre Urbana, University of Illinois Press
Lawrence B (1982) Female detectives: the feminist/anti-feminist debate Clues A Journal of Detection V3 Spring-Summer:38-48
Levy B (1989) Introduction to Marele Day: reading women's crime fiction, some problems Hecate V15 N1:42-45
Reddy MT (1988) Sisters in crime: feminism and the crime novel New York, Continuum
Wells LS (1989) Popular literature and postmodernism: Sara Paretsky's hard-boiled feminist Proteus: A Journal of Ideas V6 N1:51-56
Wilt J (1982) Feminism meets the detective novel Clues: A Journal of Detection V3 fall-Winter:47-51
Workshop Groups: Constructing the `formula' for feminist detective fiction.
Optional readings:
Bergman D (ed) (1993) Campgrounds: style and homosexuality Amherst MA, University of Massachusetts Press
Bersani L (1995) Homos Cambridge, Harvard University Press
Dyer R (1994) The matter of images: essays on representations New York, Routledge
Evans D (1993) Sexual citizenship: the material construction of sexualities New York, Routledge
Harris G (1995) Perving on perversity Media International Australia N78 Nov:20-32
O'Regan T (1993) Australian television culture St Leonards NSW, Allen & Unwin
Tyler P (1993) Screening the sexes: homosexuality in the movies New York, Da Capo Press
Workshop Groups: Discussion: cultural hegemony and minority audiences.
Workshop Groups: Re-write the subject outline for SOCA110 Ä adding, deleting and rearranging topics, exercises and references, until it is the way you wished it could have been.
Item: Group Project: a major analysis of a communication text or group of texts in groups of 5 students. Students are encouraged to be innovative in their approach to the topic. 2000 words
Timing: Week 6 and Week 12
Value: 40%
Criteria: 1. Understanding of concepts 2. Ability to apply communication theories 3. Knowledge of relevant texts 4. Ability to design and carry out a project 5. Knowledge of research techniques 6. Critical ability 7. Presentation skills 8. Original perspective
Item: Individual Critique: an analysis of the group project including discussion of group dynamics, annotated bibliography and critical assessment. 750 words
Timing: Week 14
Value: 20%
Criteria: 1. Understanding of group dynamics 2. Ability to read critically 3. Understanding of research techniques 4. Critical judgment