Dr. Christiana Abraham
Department of Communication Studies, Concordia University
Course: Tuesdays: 8:45-11:30am
Course location. CJ.301 (Loy)
Office: CJ. 5.312
Office Hours: Tuesdays: 12:30-1:30pm, or by appointment
Email: christiana.abraham@concordia.ca
Course Description
This course offers an examination of community and alternative media and various alternatives to mainstream media. These alternatives may include radio and video, independent film, the internet and other emergent cultural forms such as pastiche and parody of “culture jamming”. The concepts of mainstream and alternative are explored, and the relationship between alternative media and social practices are considered. In part, the allure of these media has to do with their non-conventional approaches and their critical coverage of contemporary events.
This course begins with theoretical engagements with the concept of alternative media and moves to diverse, grounded examples in practice. The course examines and engages with the limits of alternative and community media in effecting radical social transformation. The emphasis is on marginalized and subjugated knowledges and the role of diverse media in facilitating their dissemination. The course is designed as a participatory one that encourages students to practically explore the theoretical and creative possibilities, as well as the limitations of alternative media.
You are expected to actively participate in class discussions. Your participation should be informed by the readings, screenings, and lectures, as well as your own consumption of and experiments with alternative media.
Key terms: Alternative Media, Community Media, Democratic Participation, Culture Jamming, Guerrilla Interventions, Grounded Media Activism
Course Objectives:
By the end of the course students will be able to:
-Describe a range of approaches to the study of Alternative Media. The course offers fundamental concepts and theories in their application to Alternative Media.
-Acquire knowledge of a critical range of seminal authors, themes and vocabulary that can be applied to the study of the subject.
-Identify and appreciate the diversity of instances of Alternative Media within mainstream media and practically explore the theoretical and creative possibilities, as well as the limitations of alternative media.
-Develop critical, practical and grounded approaches related to the range of themes, and subjects related to Alternative media in relation to the political and social context of the operations of these media.
Method of delivery:
This is a seminar course consisting of lectures, seminars, presentations and workshops. Multimedia aides such as films, documentaries, internet-based media and other circulated images and representations will be utilized.
Students are expected to come to class prepared and to actively participate in class discussions. This course is 2.45 hours per session x 12 weeks.
Core Texts/Readings
Readings for this course are available and can be downloaded from the library’s Ecourse reserves database for this course. It is your responsibility to download and read these prior to the corresponding lectures. In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University's control, the content and evaluation scheme in this course may be subject to change.
Please note, we are subject to the regulations outlined in Concordia University’s Code of Rights and Responsibilities:
http://www.concordia.ca/students/rights.html. This encompasses the Academic Code of Conduct and issues of plagiarism: http://www.concordia.ca/students/academic--- integrity/plagiarism.html. ;
Course Assignments and Marks
The following are the assignments and (marking categories) in this class:
1. Critical review and seminar presentation: 20% (5-pages)
2. Case Study: Critical Alternative Media Analysis (research paper): 25%
3. Project proposal and literature review: 15% (3-4pages)
4. Attendance and Participation: 10%
5. Final Creative project/or Final Research Paper: 30% (8-page paper)
Description of Assignments
1.Critical review and seminar presentation: 20%
Students prepare a 5-page critical response paper to one week’s readings. Students select a week’s readings of their choice throughout the semester. The paper should elaborate your critical interpretations, offering one key theoretical/practice intervention which will be discussed during the respective class. You are expected to present a 6 min. Class presentation of your response. At the beginning of the semester, you are expected to sign up to the week’s readings of your choice.
Due Dates: Weekly
2. Case Study Critical Media Analysis (research paper 5-page) 25%
Students write a midterm paper on an original case study of Alternative media. Identify an instance of Alternative media in your everyday media consumption and using course theme, develop a critical analysis of the case study. Papers should present and describe the case and analyze its functioning as alternative media using course themes already covered in the course. The paper uses core course themes in order to engage and discuss the case study. Case studies can be from any media that you consume, or from unusual sites and spaces in your everyday life e.g. in the metro, in city parks or streets etc. Your paper should also show how your case study informs your own thinking about alternative media.
Due date: October 17
3. Project/paper Proposal and Literature Review: (3-pages) 15%
This is a (3-4page) proposal of your final creative project or final paper that offers an introduction to your project. This paper should include your project/paper’s theoretical approach, rationale, literature review, proposed methodology and expected outcome. (Media projects should also include the proposed audience). This proposal should include (min. 5) bibliographical references)
Due Date: November 07
4. Participation: 10%
Your participation in this course should demonstrate that you have read assigned readings through theoretical, critical application of course themes in discussions.
Participation will be marked on the following:
-You are expected to attend all classes.
-Actively participate in course deliberations and workshops, sharing your ideas and work with others and demonstrate generous class sprit based on respect.
5. Final Creative Project or Final Research paper: 30%
In your final assignment for this course, you have the chance to be creative. You can either create a sample alternative media piece or write a critical research paper on an alternative media theme that interests you. Both the project and paper derive from themes we have discussed in class and provides you with the opportunity to creatively and theoretically explore the topic of your choice further.
For the creative project, you are expected to create an alternative media project. You may use a current topic in the mainstream news media or a particular dominant perspective that frames a given issue, and then subvert it or recast it. Examples could include a podcast, a mock television news segment, a small video, poetry, songs, pastiche, zines, magazines, short stories, etc. For the project, you will have to make it clear why it is alternative to what exists out in the mainstream mediascape.
Your project should be guided by the following:
- Theoretical positioning within alternative media
- Efficacy (how effective it is)
- Clarity (how clear is the message)
- Audience appeal (have you considered your intended audience)
- Length (is it short and to the point or long and rambling?)
- Framing (is it an alternative or simply a repetition of a dominant message?)
- Distribution – how do you intend to distribute it?
For those doing the project option, you need to submit with your completed project a four-page project summary of your project identifying why it is alternative. Pay attention to the criteria listed above in order to write your summary for the project. Also, include a discussion of the particular media or platform you chose, and how this augments your message and its structure of appeal to a particular audience. Include references to the course readings to anchor your rationale.
Final Term Paper option
If you choose to write a research paper, write a critical research paper on an alternative media theme that interests you based and influenced on the themes, concepts and examples that we have studied though out the course. You will also need to conduct some research outside of the course readings. This means that you should have in your bibliography, at least 6 journal articles or book chapters that you have critically examined, in addition to the course readings. Your paper should be 8-pages long (maximum) excluding your cover page and bibliography. For this paper, you will be marked on the strength of your argument, how you approach alternative media, through theoretical concepts and language related to alternative media.
Due Date: November 28
Assignments
All written assignments should be typed and double-spaced, double-sided 12 point, Times or Times New Roman with MLA style, parenthetical citation. You can purchase the MLA Handbook from the school bookstore or other large bookstores, or consult online versions such as this one on the Concordia Libraries Website http://library.concordia.ca/help/citing/mla.php
Please number your pages. Excellent work will be grammatically and typographically error-free, have correct citations, and will fully engage the assignments in a rigorous, in-depth manner. You are expected to deliver all assignments by the due dates.
Marks will be deducted for late assignments. Anticipated problems must be discussed with the professor.
Note of class Dialogue
The purpose of class discussions is to generate greater understanding about different topics. The expression of the broadest range of ideas, including dissenting views, helps to accomplish this goal. Dialogue and discussion in class is an important part of learning and is effected to not reach a consensus, nor to convince each other of different viewpoints. Rather, the purpose of dialogue in the classroom is to reach higher levels of learning by examining different viewpoints and opinions with respect and civility.
- Teacher: CHRISTIANA ABRAHAM