Universität Wien

124070 VO Culture, Society and the Media (2018S)

Powerful Images: Representing Race, Class and Gender in the Media

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik

Failed lecture registration / Moodle access:

Students who still miss prerequisites for this lecture (your current registration status is "angelegt" or "wiederaufgenommen") will be registered by our SSS staff to provide full access to Moodle. Registration lists will be checked at least once a week. There is no need to contact the SSS and/or lecturer(s) personally.
Please note: Students do need to have completed all curricular prerequisites before they can take the corresponding exam (separate registration necessary).
Moodle

Details

Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 21.03. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 11.04. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 18.04. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 25.04. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 02.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 09.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 16.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 23.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 30.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 06.06. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 13.06. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03
  • Wednesday 20.06. 18:30 - 20:00 Hörsaal C1 UniCampus Hof 2 2G-O1-03

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The media shape and influence our images of the world, ourselves and other people. In this sense, they are part of our cultural identity, and they can exert incredible power. However, we can also use media products to change and challenge identities and social expectations.

The lecture uses material from English, American and Anglophone Media like television series and movies, advertisement, music videos, graphic novels, or news media to show how three central building blocks of identity - race, class and gender - are represented. We will discuss how the media can reinforce stereotypes, but equally how media products and their use and re-use can help to uncover harmful and discriminatory social practices and identities. In a nutshell, we will deal with the multiple connections between culture, media and society.

This lecture will familiarise students with the intersectional study of identity, specifically with the role of race, class and gender. This includes issues like racism, sexism and other types of discrimination as shown but also challenged by media products.
Students will learn how to approach different mediations (e.g. comics, movies, internet clips, television, advertisement) and their representations of race, class and gender; students will be asked to read and be presented with key theoretical texts by Michel Foucault, Stuart Hall, Judith Butler, Richard Dyer, and others.

In the lecture, you will have the opportunity to provide material of your own.

Assessment and permitted materials

Final written exam of 60 minutes in multiple-choice format

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

You can get 100% in the exam. 50% are needed to get a passing grade.

Marks in %:
1 (very good): 87,00-100%
2 (good): 75,00-86,99%
3 (satisfactory): 63,00-74,99%
4 (pass): 50,00-62,99%
5 (fail): 0-49,99%

Examination topics

The lecture is a multi-media based course (Internet, audio and video presentations). For the final written exam, the relevant materials are:
a) the lecture slides (available on moodle each week),
b) additional material presented in each session itself (specifically clips and images),
c) the readings of each session which are available on moodle.

Reading list

Among others, we will work with the following reading material:

Blunt, Alison, and Robyn Dowling. Home. London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Connell, Raewyn. Gender: In World Perspective. Cambridge: Polity, 2009.
Dyer, Richard. White. London: Routledge, 1997.
Gary Day. Class. New Critical Idioms Series. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.
Glover, David, and Cora Kaplan. Genders. New Critical Idiom Series. London and New York: Routledge, 2000.
Hall, Stuart. “The Spectacle of the Other.” Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Ed. Stuart Hall. London: Sage, 1997. 239-279.
Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. London and New York: Routledge, 2005.
Nash, Jennifer C. “Re-thinking Intersectionality.” feminist review 89 (2008): 1–15.

These as well as additional titles or relevant excerpts from them will be available on moodle at the beginning of the semester.

General critical introduction recommended for participants:
John Storey (2012/1997). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. Sixth Ed.

Association in the course directory

Studium: BA 612, EC 125, EC 126; BEd 046
Code/Modul: BA07.1, EC Cultural and Regional Studies 1; BEd Modul 10
Lehrinhalt: 12-4070

Last modified: We 09.09.2020 00:22