Universität Wien

124266 KO Critical Media Analysis (2015W)

Getting away from it all and having the time of your life? Critically reading popular guidebooks and travel blogs relating to the 'global south'

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 12.10. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 19.10. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 09.11. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 16.11. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 23.11. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 30.11. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 07.12. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 14.12. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 11.01. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 18.01. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21
  • Monday 25.01. 08:00 - 10:00 Helene-Richter-Saal UniCampus Hof 8 3G-EG-21

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Guidebooks and travel blogs celebrate touristic freedom and offer us colourful insights into destinations from all around the world. As powerful bodies of knowledge, they shape our ways of understanding foreign cultures and help us make sense of the world as we browse their pages, online and offline alike. To that effect, particular itineraries and ways of seeing people from other cultures are culturally legitimized as appropriate, whereas other practices are often excluded. However, guidebooks and blogs also embrace an ethical vision of humanity that assumes travel as one key to reducing cultural differences and making the world more accessible. This accessibility is not available to everybody though and western tourist practices often continue to be embedded in the signifying economy of a post-colonial capitalist enterprise. This course takes this as a point of departure and investigates how images of alterity are negotiated by these sources and how notions of freedom and responsibility are played out.

Assessment and permitted materials

Participation and a group presentation (counts 30% towards final grade) , a group Portfolio with mini paper (counts 40 %), and a written midterm test (counts 30%).

Requirements for a positive grade:
- regular attendance (miss max. 2 sessions without excuse)
- presentation, portfolio, test

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

This course is aimed at teacher trainees and BA students. It is designed to help participants develop both a theoretical understanding and practical skills to critically analyse media contents that relate to travelling and the global south. At the end of the course, student shall have developed a portfolio with a write up of their analysis (mini paper), a summary of selected readings and a reflection.

Examination topics

Students will be familiarized with concepts that help them deconstruct and denaturalize various forms of destination images represented in Anglophone guidebooks and travel blogs. Students will select viable examples for discussion (e.g. contents from guidebooks and travel blogs) and investigate the socio-cultural implications of these examples with regard to hidden power relations and ideological tendencies that may reside in the texts. Readings, group activities and presentations will be rounded off by discussions, peer-feedback sessions and written assignments.

Reading list

A reader will be made available.

Association in the course directory

Studium: UF 344, BA 612, BEd 046
Code/Modul: UF 4.2.5-426, BA07.3; BEd 08a.2, BEd 08b.1
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260

Last modified: We 09.09.2020 00:22