Professor John Durham Peters
Office: 125 BCSB, Office phone: (319) 353
2258 john-peters@uiowa.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-4:00 p.m. (sign-up
sheet on door) and by appointment
Teaching Assistant Mr. Jerry Wever, jerry-wever@uiowa.edu
240 IC, Office hours:
by appointment, Telephone (home): 337-8380
This course is an introduction to some of the leading issues in the study of transnational media. Our focus is case studies, which we will use to draw larger conclusions about the global media environment in the early 21st century. We will focus on diverse countries (China, India, Nigeria, Turkey, the USA, and Zimbabwe) and regions (the Arab world, Europe); a variety of media (film, music, news, radio, and television); and a variety of social issues (cultural hybridity, gender roles, piracy, race, state control, transborder communication flows, etc.).
The goals of this class are to (1) increase your familiarity with the media situations and societies of various countries (2) introduce you to scholarly debates about media and global culture and (3) improve your skills in reading and interpreting academic studies of international media, culture, and society. The amount of reading will be relatively light, but some of it will be difficult, as we are only reading original academic research articles. We will spend plenty of time in class on explaining the theoretical concepts and background.
Note: All the readings are available on the Web CT course website. Go to http://courses.uiowa.edu, login, and go to this class.
Note: the following schedule may be changed, but unless you hear otherwise, you should assume it is still valid.
W 29 Introduction (Jerry Wever)
M 4 Key issues in global flows
Read: Arjun Appadurai, “Difference and Disjuncture in the Global Cultural Economy.” This is a difficult piece, but it is laced with interesting specifics that you can grab hold of. Since its publication in 1990, it has made a huge impact on discussion of globalization. Pay particular attention to his five “scapes.”
W 6 Pirate Video in Nigeria
Read: Brian Larkin, “Degraded Images, Distorted Sounds: Nigerian Video and the Infrastructure of Piracy,” Public Culture 16 (2004): 289-316. This piece is rather thick with theoretical vocabulary (jargon), but it makes several interesting points, and we will discuss it at length in class.
Panel Discussion on Nigerian Society and Media
M 11 Hollywood Cinema in Turkey
Read: Nezih Erdogan and Dilik Kaya, “Institutional Intervention in the Distribution and Exhibition of Hollywood Films in Turkey,” Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television 22 (2002): 47-59.
We will also discuss similar issues in the popular music industry in Turkey.
Panel Discussion on Turkish Society and Media
W 13 Soap Opera in India
Read: Purnima Mankekar, “Dangerous Desires: Television and Erotics in Late Twentieth-Century India,” Journal of Asian Studies 63 (May 2004).
Please see recommended lecture below on 21 October.
Panel Discussion on Indian Society and Media
Required screening: Control Room (documentary on Al-Jazeera). Shown at the Bijou, IMU, 14-20 October. You may choose the time most convenient for you. For times, see http://www.uiowa.edu/~bijou/soon.html We will discuss this film on in class on 20 October in connection with the Ajami article.
M 18 Soap Opera in China
Read: Sheldon H. Lu, “Soap Opera in China: The Transnational Politics of Visuality, Sexuality, and Masculinity,” Cinema Journal (Fall 2000). Compare this essay with Mankekar’s.
Panel Discussion on Chinese Society and Media
W 20 TV News in the Arab World: The Case of Al-Jazeera
Read: Fouad Ajami, “What the Muslim World is Watching,” New York Times Magazine, 18 Nov. 2001.
Panel Discussion on Arab Society and Media
Recommended: Thursday, 21 October, 4:00 p.m: lecture by Prof. Purnima Mankekar, Stanford University, place and topic TBA.
M 25 Popular Music in Zimbabwe
Read: Paddy Scannell. “Music, Radio and the Record Business in Zimbabwe Today.” Popular Music. 20.1 (Jan. 2001): 13 –27.
Panel Discussion on Zimbabwean Society and Media
W 27 The Global Reach of African-American Culture, I: Music in Europe
Read: Jannis Androutsopoulos and Arno Scholz, “Spaghetti Funk: Appropriations of Hip-Hop Culture and Music in Europe,” Popular Music and Society 26 (2003): 463-479.
Panel Discussion on European Society and Media
M 1 The Global Reach of African-American Culture, II: Television Globally & the USA
Read: Timothy Havens, “Race and the Global Popularity of the Cosby Show,” Media, Culture, and Society 22 (2000): 371-391.
Panel Discussion on American Society and Media
Further Classes in Communication Studies that deal with globalization of media
36:74 Media and Society
36:86 Global Media Studies
See also offerings in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
A group of five or six students will meet and divide up various aspects of their country or area in which they will become experts by consulting books, articles, and websites. Each student will write a single-spaced report of no less than one and no more than two pages on their particular topic. It should be in your own words, and with sources documented, not just lifted off of the internet, though relevant websites may be referenced. (The usual rules of plagiarism apply here, of course.) The report will be both turned in and posted on the class website on WebCT, and is due on the same day as the panel (except for the first group, whose due-date is 11 October). It should be a useful reference guide for other students and should be written with them in mind. In class, each group will conduct a panel discussion of around twenty minutes that will provide the rest of the class useful background on the society studied in the article. Each panel discussion should discuss at least the following aspects of each country/area: (1) geography and natural resources (including a map) (2) society, including population size, age, etc. (3) politics and economy, including per capita income (4) cultural issues, such as religion, status of women, literacy (5) relevant history (6) other mass media. However, each group may choose to divide up their expertise as they choose, as long as these topics are covered. Each panel discussion should seek to provide a relevant context for the article we are studying--to provide background knowledge that will help all of us grasp the significance of each particular case study. This means that each group should study the article before they meet to divide up topics so that they can identify particular topics, facts, or points of cultural or historical context that they can investigate and then share with the rest of class. You should sign up in the first class, on 29 Sept.
W 6 Nigeria
M 11 Turkey
W 13 India
M 18 China
W 20 The Arab Middle East
M 25 Zimbabwe
W 27 Europe
M 1 The United States
You should write an essay of about 2000 words (five pages of 10-point, double-spaced type) that draws together the various case studies of the class into a larger argument or interpretation about global media in the 21st century. This is not to be a research paper, but a reflection on the class in which you pull your knowledge together and explore the larger social, cultural, or political issues. You should have a thesis, a central point or argument to make. The single additional requirement is that you read one more recent scholarly article on a media issue in a country of your choice (it cannot be one that has been covered in our readings) and incorporate it into your essay. You will have to do some research in the library or the internet on your own to find the article; it should be published in a scholarly journal, not a magazine or newspaper.
Further instructions may be forthcoming.
I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability that may require some modification of seating, testing or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please see me after class or during my office hours.
For information regarding the collegiate policy on plagiarism and cheating and regarding procedures for students' complaints regarding faculty actions, please see the relevant pages in the Schedule of Courses and the CLAS Bulletin. See also the CLAS Student Academic Handbook, (http://www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/). Professor Jane Desmond is the Associate Dean for International Programs.
This course is given by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This means that class policies on matters such as requirements, grading, and sanctions for academic dishonesty are governed by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Students wishing to add or drop this course after the official deadline must receive the approval of the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Details of the University policy of cross enrollments may be found at: http://www.uiowa.edu/~provost/deos/crossenroll.pdf
Grading is on a plus and minus scale. Incompletes will not be given.
We will not review or comment on drafts of papers sent over e-mail. We will be happy to discuss your writing in person in office hours or other arranged times.
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Sexual Harassment Policy: http://www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/ii/04.htm
Professional Ethics: http://www.uiowa.edu/~our/opmanual/iii/15.htm