| Syllabus for MCS 302 | Back |
MCS 302 introduces students of communication to the study of “cultural studies”, a rather recent interdisciplinary field specifically focused upon the cultural analysis. Given the wide range of different angels and approaches within cultural studies, this course willl be limited to the realm of discourse analysis which has been a theoretical standard in media and communication studies. After examining the key theoretical and methodological tenets of discourse analysis, the deployment of this method in cultural studies will be assessed through a selection of case studies. Students will write their term paper in the form of a case study of a cultural phenomenon from the daily life of Turkish society.
Credit units:3, ECTS Credit units: 4
There will be no major textbook to follow. Weekly course readings from original sources will be distributed to students in advance and a study pack will be assembled in due course.
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SEMESTER REQUIREMENTS |
NUMBER |
PERCENTAGE OF GRADE |
|
Mid-Term Exam |
1 |
15 |
|
Final Exam |
1 |
40 |
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Assignment |
1 |
30 |
|
Presentation |
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|
|
Lab |
|
|
|
Field Work |
|
|
|
Seminar |
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|
|
Application |
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|
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Attendance and Participation |
|
15 |
|
TOTAL |
|
100 |
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PERCENTAGE OF SEMESTER WORK |
- |
60 |
|
PERCENTAGE OF FINAL EXAM |
- |
40 |
|
TOPLAM |
- |
100 |
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Hafta/ Week |
Konular/ Subjects |
Ön Hazırlık/Related Preparation |
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1 |
Presentation and an overview of the course, course organization, requirements and methods of evaluation.
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Video: John Berger, Ways of Seeing
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2 |
Introduction: An overview of the Discipline of Cultural Studies |
Stuart Hall, Representation, Meaning and Language (pp. 15-30)
Video: Stuart Hall’s Cultural Studies
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3 |
Structural Linguistics: Language, Sign and Representation
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Burgoyne, Flitterman-Lewis & Stam, The Origins of Semiotics
Asa-Berger, Semiotic Analysis
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4 |
Semiology: Codes, Denotation, Connotation and Myth |
Stuart Hall, From Language to Culture: Linguistics to Semiotics (pp. 36-41)
Roland Barthes, Myth Today
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5 |
Myth and the Theory of Ideology |
Terry Eagleton, ‘Discourse and Ideology’ (from Ideology)
Marx & Engels, The Ruling Class and the Ruling Ideas
Antonio Gramsci, History of the Subaltern Classes; The Concept of Ideology; Cultural Themes: Ideological Material
Louis Althusser, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses
Schirato & Yell, ‘Ideology’, from Communication and Culture |
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6 |
The Critique of Realism: From Structuralism to Post Structuralism |
Terry Eagleton, Poststructuralism
Chandler, Intertextuality Selected passages from: Roland Barthes, S/Z
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|
7 |
Poststructuralism and Deconstruction |
Stuart Hall, The Spectacle of the Other
Selected Passages from:
J. Derrida, Writing and Difference Movie: Fight Club
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|
8 |
From Language to Discourse: Truth, Power and Knowledge |
Stuart Hall, Discourse, Power and the Subject
S. Best & D. Kellner, Foucault and the Critique of Modernity |
|
9 |
The Postmodern Condition and Cultural Studies |
Postmodernism For Beginners by Jim Powell and Joe Lee
S. Best & D. Kellner, Baudrillard
Movie (screening and analysis): Natural Born Killers
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|
10 |
Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies I: Freud |
Eagleton, Psychoanalysis
Modules on Freud
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11 |
Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies II: Lacan and Kristeva
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Burgoyne, Flitterman-Lewis & Stam, Psychoanalysis
Berger, Psychoanalytic Criticism Modules on Lacan
Modules on Kristeva
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12 |
Sex, Gender and Culture
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Stam, et. al., New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics, Ch.4 pp. 174-183 Screening: Trailers and selected scenes from American Gigolo and Silence of the Lambs.)
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13 |
Race and Culture
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Stuart Hall, The Spectacle of the Other (pp. 36-41)
Screening: Trailers and selected scenes from The Birth of a Nation, Mississipi Burning and Malcolm X
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14 |
Orientalism and post-Colonial Critique
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Stuart Hall, The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power
Movie (screening and analysis): The Mission
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15 |
Revision |
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Preparatory Material |
: |
See below |
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Examination |
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Students need to pass a mid-term exam, prepare and submit a 3000 word essay and pass a take-home final exam. |
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Presentation
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Teaching will be conducted in the form of lectures, student presentations and class discussions. |
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Requirements |
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Students are required to attend the classes after reading the relevant material. Participation in class discussions is essential.
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The most common academic honesty violations are cheating and plagiarism.
Cheating includes, but it is not limited to
1) Submitting material that is not one’s own.
2) Fabricating information.
3) Copying from a book or class notes during a closed-book exam.
4) Violating procedures prescribed to protect the integrity of a test, or other evaluation exercise.
5) Cooperating with or helping another student to cheat.
6) Having another person take an examination in student’s place.
7) Altering exam answers and requesting that the exam be re-graded.
8) Communicating with any person during an exam other than the faculty member or exam proctor.
9) Making unauthorized use of technological devices in the completion of assignments or exams.
Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:
1) Directly quoting the words of others without using quotation marks or indented format to identify them.
2) Using sources of information (published or unpublished) without identifying them.
3) Paraphrasing materials or ideas without identifying the sources.