Note: this is subject to change, so check back frequently!
ASTU 204A
Prof. Alejandra Bronfman
Office hours: 3-4 pm every day
Media Histories
Learning Objectives
- To introduce students to some major themes, events, and historiographical debates in media history from the 17th century to the present.
- To introduce students to several of the key analytical and methodological tools currently used by historians. These will include: periodization; primary source analysis; secondary source analysis; spatial and temporal scale; context; digital databases and sources; library and research skills
- To teach students the essentials of historical writing, including: o selection and articulation of a thesis/argument; selection and mobilization of evidence; attention to the relationship between form and content (involves outlining, weaving together themes/arguments and narrative)
- To introduce students to the production of historical narratives in non-academic settings, including: o communicating history to different audiences; communicating history through a variety of media, including visual, digital, sound, and short-form writing Students will prepare for the class by working through a historical monograph that addresses the major developments in media history. With this background of basic knowledge, students will use class time to engage the more theoretical questions related to the politics and ethics of media.
- Assignments, 20% each
- In preparation: Read Introduction, Chapters 4 and 5, Marshall Poe, A History of Communications: Media and Society from the Evolution of Speech to the Internet (Cambridge University Press, 2011) Students will read these chapters and contribute to an online discussion with answers to guiding questions for each of the chapters in the weeks before the face-to-face meetings begin. In addition, students will prepare a short (one page) answer to the following questions for the first day:
What is your media world filled with today? What was it like ten years ago, in your experience? What has changed?
As part of this assignment, you may want to make a media journal. Over the course of a single day, make a quick note every time you use some form of media.
- Participation: One of the principal learning outcomes is an ability to critically engage and discuss texts. We will be having lots of discussions of the assigned readings, and your participation will be evaluated on the quality, not simply the quantity, of your contributions. A top mark requires that a student 1) be involved in most significant class conversations about the weekly readings; 2) engage the readings explicitly in their comments, as appropriate; 3) engage their classmates respectfully.
- Short (one paragraph!) blog postings on daily readings:
These paragraphs should not summarize the readings but rather take up one issue that you are interested in or bothered about and explore it, as a way to spark a discussion or raise an important question.
Students are required to contribute at least five over the two-week period. These must be submitted the night before class (up to 6am) for them to count towards your grade.
- Historical analysis using primary sources:
1000 words, typed, double-spaced, handed in in hard copy.
Write a short essay (1000 words), using two articles from the New York Times Proquest Historical Database as your primary sources, about how people experienced a medium as it was being introduced. Choose from the pre-internet media we have studied so far: paper, telegraph, film, radio, television. The main purpose of the paper is an analysis of the newspaper articles you have chosen (it is NOT, in other words, a summary or a comprehensive account of the history of the medium you have chosen.) Your principal argument should focus on the ways the journalists and the newspaper represent your particular medium.
Please limit your sources to the New York Times articles. If you need to use Wikipedia for some basic background, please cite it carefully. The purpose of this assignment is not to write a complete account of a medium’s history, but rather to obtain a few perspectives on it and analyze them as a way to learn something new and specific about the medium.
- Group project: Creation of a version of a historical event or narrative, using medium of your choice. Students will receive guidelines and use class time to work on these.
Class Schedule
Monday, May 30 *3-4 pm today only*
*Introductions: What is your media world filled with today? What was it like ten years ago, in your experience? What has changed?
Overnight Module #1 (cartoons)
Tuesday, May 31
*Visual culture #1 Danish Cartoons and the politics of satire.
*In class: debate about freedom of speech: what are your limits?
Overnight: Module #2 (photography)
Wednesday, June 1
*In class, discussion of photography;
Overnight: Module #3 (film)
Thursday, June 2
*In class: discussion of film readings; video, surveillance and violence
*Introduction and work on group projects
Overnight: Module #4 (telegraphy)
Friday June 3
*In class, maps and the telegraphed globe
*Introduction to papers
Module #5 (radio) for Monday
Monday June 6
*In class: listening
Check in with group projects.
Overnight: Module #6 (TV)
Tuesday June 7
*In class: analysis of Coca Cola ads in different media, from different parts of the world.
Watch Wesch: The Internet: privacy, secrecy, publicity, ethics Michael Wesch: An Introduction to YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO- lZ4_hU
Overnight: Module #7 (internet)
Wednesday June 8
*In class: discussion in small groups, outline an internet policy.
*Individual meetings with students about papers.
Overnight: Module #8 (Arab Spring)
Thursday June 9
*In class: discussion of Arab Spring readings and videos
*Time to work on group projects
Friday June 10
Group project presentations.