Communication and Culture (COMC)
COMC 1101. Communications and Culture: History, Theory, and Methods. (4 Credits)
An introduction to the history, theory and methods of Communication Studies, Media Studies, and Cultural Studies. This serves as the required introductory course for the major in Communication and Culture. It provides students with a basic theoretical foundation for understanding the interdisciplinary traditions of our field, an historical examination of key paradigms and theorists, and an overview of the methodological approaches used by scholars of mediated communication. We will explore the ways in which theory and methodology are inextricably intertwined and how their relationship shapes both inquiry and analysis. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, ASHS, DISA, DTEM, DTMM.
COMC 1999. Tutorial. (1 Credit)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.
COMC 2111. Theories of Human Communication. (4 Credits)
This course introduces students to the study of human communication through a variety of theories that focus on language, meaning, symbols, performance, gender, race, culture, and political economy, among others. Students develop an awareness of the varied perspectives from which communication has been studied; ethical issues and complexities of human and mediated communication in the 21st century; and how communication concepts and theories help us better understand our lives, relationships, culture, and society. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ASSC, CCMS, LING.
COMC 2112. Strategic Communication: Theory and Practice. (4 Credits)
Introduction to strategic communication for students interested in advertising, public relations, health communications, social advocacy and political campaigns. Presents today's best practices used to research, design, implement and evaluate campaigns. Topics include: impact of the evolution of technology and the digital environment on delivery of campaigns, basic elements of a strategic media plan, ethics and regulation of strategic communications, and role of strategic communications in the process of marketing products, people, ideas, and social causes. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, NMAC, NMDD.
COMC 2113. Interpersonal Communication. (4 Credits)
An introduction to the basic tools of behavioral research as applied to the study of interpersonal communication. Topics such as human relationships, communication competence, conflict negotiation, intercultural communication, communication and gender, and mediated interpersonal communication are covered. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, JOUR.
COMC 2117. Language, Consciousness, and Culture. (4 Credits)
In this course, we examine how we use words and symbols as tools for thought and guides for action, and how the structures of language and symbolic communication relate to the structures of consciousness and culture. We analyze the role of language in understanding our world, constructing reality, and evaluating messages and information. Pragmatic strategies for avoiding misevaluation and misunderstanding, resolving conflict, and improving clarity of communication through awareness of language habits in interpersonal, organizational, and mediated contexts are emphasized. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, LING.
COMC 2146. Introduction to Health Communication. (4 Credits)
Students in this course will receive a broad overview of the health communication discipline. The course will begin with a discussion of how health and illness are conceptualized in various contexts to open doors to the diversity of health communication research and careers. Students will explore health-related topics as they appear in interpersonal, organizational, and mediated forms of communication. Topics include provider/patient communication, medical decision-making, health campaigns, medicine on TV, and more. Students are also invited to explore their own health-related interests through course assignments and discussions. While this course is a good match for students interested in medical careers, it does not require any specific science-related knowledge and aligns with a wide range of other career paths and backgrounds including nonprofit work, law, journalism, and strategic communication. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, CCUS.
COMC 2159. Communication Technologies and Society. (4 Credits)
This course surveys the history of mass media, from Gutenberg's invention of the printing press until today. We will focus on the technological aspects of media. However, a key focus of this course will also be on how the development of new tech gained later widespread adoption, how these technologies directly and indirectly affected the contemporaneous socio-cultural environment, as well as their continued effect on society today. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, DTEM.
COMC 2166. Media Advocacy. (4 Credits)
Media advocacy is the strategic use of communication channels for the purpose of social justice and influencing public policy. Social marketing seeks to develop and integrate marketing concepts with other approaches to influence behaviors that benefit individuals and communities for the greater social good. Guided by ethical principles, social marketing seeks to integrate research, best practices, theory, and audience and partnership insight to inform the delivery of competition-sensitive and segmented social change programs that are effective, efficient, equitable, and sustainable. This course offers a strategic framework for developing a social media advocacy program, using social and digital media to help shape public debate, mobilize public action, and speak directly to those with influence to help bring about social change. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attribute: CCMS.
COMC 2175. Persuasion and Public Opinion. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 2701): An examination of the theories and research on persuasion and attitude change, the strategies and techniques used by persuaders and the reception skills needed to be a critical consumer of persuasive messages. Topics such as the psychology of attitude formation and change, interpersonal influence, rhetoric, language and symbol use, culture and persuasion, persuasive campaigns and movements, political communication, advertising and propaganda, the sociology of mass persuasion and the ethics of persuasion are covered. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, JOUR, SSCI.
COMC 2223. Comic Books and American Culture. (4 Credits)
This course charts the historical development of the comic book in America, from the Great Depression of the 1930s to the present day. It will examine the comic book's defining characteristics as a unique visual/narrative medium, and evaluate comic books' value as a vivid historical record of the preoccupations and anxieties of American society. This course will chart the medium's shifting cultural status, from earning widespread public condemnation in the 1950s to its literary rehabilitation as the "graphic novel" in the 1980s. It will also consider how the commercial demands and economic structures of America's comic-book industry have shaped comics' artistic development and critical reception. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, CMST.
COMC 2234. Media and the Arts. (4 Credits)
This course offers a wide-ranging survey of various art forms and the technologies that produce them. Primary emphasis will be placed on visual culture, although we will talk about the ways in which media and art mobilize multisensory responses. We will begin with a consideration of mechanical reproduction and the possibilities of mass dissemination of art that was previously considered to be esoteric and belonging to the domain of specialists. We will also cover a range of other topics such as photography, video art, graphic novels, performance, animation, digital art, and public art. Throughout the sessions, we will maintain a critical humanist perspective and explore media and art forms as they intersect with questions of power, gender, race, and class. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, CMST, URST.
COMC 2236. The Rock Revolution in Music and Media. (4 Credits)
From transistor radios to digital downloads, from AM to FM through the rise of MTV, and from Elvis to the Beatles to Woodstock, this course examines the media's role in the evolution of rock 'n' rock and it's impact on our society. We explore the often symbiotic relationship among the music, technology and personalities of an era that still reverberates today. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, ASHS, CCUS, CMST.
COMC 2277. Media and Sexuality. (4 Credits)
By all accounts, we have witnessed an explosion of LGBTQ representation in the media over the last decade. This course critically examines the terms of this new visibility, and inquires into the exclusions that accompany the recognition of certain queer and trans subjects. Through the study of media, film and popular culture, we will explore how representations of sex and sexuality are also central to the construction of ideas about race, class, gender, and nation. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, CELP, COLI, EP3, FIID, PJGS, PJST, WGSS.
COMC 2278. Media, Culture, and Globalization. (4 Credits)
What is the role of the media in shaping our understanding of a globalized, interconnected world and our position within it? This course explores these questions by studying the role of the media in both producing and resisting forms of power, violence and inequality associated with contemporary globalization. In particular, we will examine how the media structures and mediates our relationship to others, and communicates powerful meanings about citizenship, national identity, security, and criminality. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, CMST, GLBL, INST, ISIN.
COMC 2279. Contemporary Asian Media Cultures. (4 Credits)
As a geopolitical entity, the Asian continent is culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse, and so are its media forms. Contemporary global flows and transnational exchanges further complicate this search for a singular Asia. This course begins with the premise that we cannot understand contemporary Asian media cultures without accounting for formal and informal infrastructures of production, circulation, and consumption. We will focus both on media objects and texts—including but not limited to cinema, television, and the internet—as well as the cultural and historical contexts in which they are produced. Each week focuses on a conceptual theme that is aimed at broadening our horizons of understanding both the meanings of Asia and the work that media does in and through Asia. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, CMST, DTEM, GLBL.
COMC 2329. Media Industries. (4 Credits)
This course presents an introduction to the critical study of media industries. Students will not only survey institutional, social, and technological histories of the media industries, they will be introduced to scholarly approaches to studying issues such as media organization, the political economy of media, and media governance and regulatory policy. By engaging with recent writing and debates in the field, students will develop the skills necessary to examine media institutions, analyze their operations, and assess their impact on society. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, ASAM, CMST, JOUR, SSCI.
COMC 2377. Mass Communication and Media Effects. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 2610) This class will introduce students to the study of mass communication through an examination of the structure of mass media and the perceived effects of media on individuals and society. Students will examine the history of mass media, from the formation of the public sphere to electronic mass media forms such as radio and television, while exploring its intersection with the emergence of communication scholarship. Students will also consider debates over the impact of these mass media forms, analyzing case studies and theoretical claims regarding concepts such as propaganda, agenda-setting, and mainstreaming. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, APPI, ASAM, CCMS, CMST, PLUR, SSCI.
COMC 2999. Tutorial. (2 Credits)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.
COMC 3114. Effective Speaking. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 2501): A study of principles of effective communication with emphasis on the role of public speaking skills in professional life, the importance of critical thinking to communication and its significance in a democratic political system. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, JOUR.
COMC 3115. Performance for Broadcast Media. (4 Credits)
This course will improve students’ performance skills in broadcast media (as well as give industry insight), whether they are on the path to sports broadcasting, hard news, comedy, the boardroom, or the latest viral web-show or podcast. A different on-air challenge will be presented each week where students will work on—then self-critique—their vocal delivery, body mechanics, and writing style. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, JOUR.
COMC 3171. Orality and Literacy. (4 Credits)
An examination of oral and literate modes of communication and their relationship to culture, consciousness and social organization. Topics include the nature of non literate cultures, oral tradition and mnemonics, the historical development of writing systems and their social and psychological impacts, theories and debates on oral and literate cultures, and mindsets. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ASSC, CCMS, JOUR.
COMC 3172. Principles of Advertising. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 3502): A study of advertising strategies and promotional appeals. Professional guidance in the creation of advertising: the planning, designing and writing of campaigns for all media and for multimedia campaigns with special emphasis on copywriting. Juniors and Seniors only. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ASSC, CCMS, JOUR, NMAC, NMDD.
COMC 3174. Public Relations. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 3501): Provides knowledge of the basic concepts of public relations and instruction in the use of various media in reaching specific publics.Through lectures, writing assignments, and in-class workshops, students will learn the basic concepts of public relations and the methodology of using various media to reach specific audiences. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, FASH, JOUR, PJCR.
COMC 3179. Crisis and Reputation Management in PR. (4 Credits)
Through case studies and class assignments, this course will investigate best practices for responding to disruptive and unexpected events which might damage a business brand or threaten an organization's mission. Students will identify and strengthen the skills necessary to deliver key messages into public discussions via traditional and social media channels for the purpose of establishing or maintaining a brand or organization as an authority and industry leader. Students will also learn public relations tactics to deal with crisis scenarios and ongoing reputation building. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ASSC, CCMS, CMST.
COMC 3186. Sports Communication. (4 Credits)
This course provides a survey of sports communication from analytical and practical perspectives. Written assignments address topics covered, including sports reporting and writing, advertising, and public relations. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, CCMS, JOUR, SJOR.
Prerequisites: COMM 1000 or COMM 1010.
Mutually Exclusive: COMC 3187.
COMC 3187. Sports Communication in the Field. (4 Credits)
A survey of sports communication from analytical and practical perspectives. As part of the class, students will make visits to sports organizations in the New York area, and so those enrolling should allow travel time before and after the course meeting. There will be three to five field trips during the semester, which students must attend. Assignments will address topics covered, including sports reporting and writing, advertising, and public relations, and may relate to the specific organizations visited. Students may not take this course and COMC 3186, Sports Communication. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ASSC, CCMS, JOUR, SJOR.
Mutually Exclusive: COMC 3186.
COMC 3232. Class, Taste, and Popular Culture. (4 Credits)
In this course, students examine cultural hierarchy and conflicting notions regarding the "ideal" form and content of the symbolic environment. Drawing from various critiques of the mass media, this course explores the ways in which debates about cultural and aesthetic standards reflect socioeconomic and political concerns. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, APPI, ASAM, CCUS, COLI, PLUR, URST.
COMC 3233. Promotional Culture. (4 Credits)
Promotional industries like advertising, marketing, and public relations have grown into a nearly ubiquitous presence in our lives. They do much more than sell products, however. These professions influence the ways politicians are elected, activists strive for social change, and individuals perform their identities both in person and online. Through a critical look at the histories, institutions, practices, and ideologies of promotion, this class explores life living in a promotional culture. We will use a historicized understanding of promotion to address contemporary issues such as disinformation, online bots, trolling, citizen journalism, self-branding, and emergent technologies of publicity. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, CMST.
COMC 3235. Popular Music as Communication. (4 Credits)
Current issues in popular music studies-mediation, globalization, authenticity, identity, community, etc.- covering a wide range of popular musics in North America. Regular reading and listening assignments. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, CCUS, COLI, URST.
COMC 3240. Photography, Identity, Power. (4 Credits)
Contemporary social life is structured in part around the unprecedented circulation of personal photography. With the rise of internet-enabled devices that capture and upload photographs in the blink of an instant, new and old ethical quandaries arise with regard to the role of photography in civil society and community life. This course will explore the intertwining of power, identity, and photography thematically, building students’ understanding of theoretical foundations alongside contemporary scholarship. Students will learn about legal issues around copyright, manipulated photography, privacy rights, and censorship. They will probe the relationship between identity construction, self-styling, self-portraiture, and context collapse. They will consider the ethics of photography in activism and movement building. Across themes, contemporary issues will be paired with historical examples. For instance, the circulation of images and videos of police violence, which have served as catalysts in the contemporary international movement against racial injustice, will be contextualized within a longer history of the circulation of images of Black trauma, from lynching postcards to the Civil Rights Movement. To explore self-portraiture, students will consider historical examples of subversive self-portraiture, from queer self-fashioning in 19th-century vernacular photography to 20th-century artists' use of the form, alongside selfie culture on Instagram. Students will self-assess their own photographic practices and develop skills in historical research to complete an original research project using primary photographic sources. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, ASAM, CCUS, CELP, CMST, DTEM, DTEV, EP3, FIID, JOUR, PJMJ, PJST, PLUR, PPWD.
COMC 3247. Race and Gender in Media. (4 Credits)
This class analyzes representations of social class, racial and ethnic identity, and gender and sexuality in media. We begin our work with two assumptions. First, that media both shape and are shaped by social conceptions. Second, that these categories—race, class, and gender—are embodied, that is, they describe different physical bodies that inhabit real, lived environments. From there, students learn to identify central themes and problems in representing differences of race/ethnicity, social class, and sexuality in fiction and nonfiction media. The class will use a mixture of hands-on activities with contemporary media (such as blogging, journaling, and online discussion) plus more traditional readings about theories of representation and embodiment. The course is intended as a learning environment where students are able to do more than simply identify stereotypes. Rather, they intervene in these representations, actively critiquing stereotypes and moving past them toward a reflective attitude about the relationship between society as it is lived for people of different racial, sexual, and class groups—and the image of those groups as depicted in media. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AFAM, AMST, APPI, ASAM, ASSC, CCUS, CMST, COLI, DISA, HCWL, HUST, JOUR, PJMJ, PJST, PLUR, WGSS.
COMC 3260. Media Regulation. (4 Credits)
This course explores the history and grounding of U.S. telecommunications regulation in the precedence of utilities, emphasizing private control while developing a national infrastructure, as opposed to the European model of media as social agency. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, CELP, JOUR, JPLH.
COMC 3268. Media and National Identity. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 3681): An examination of case studies showing how national identity is inferred and organized by mass media. Questions include: How is nationalism produced by media discourse? How are outsiders portrayed? Who draws the boundaries between inside and outside, and how? Texts will include television, radio, print journalism, music and films. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ADVD, AMST, APPI, ASAM, ASHS, ASRP, ASSC, CCUS, COLI, GLBL, INST, ISIN, JOUR, LALS, LASS, PJMJ, PJST.
COMC 3272. History and Culture of Advertising. (4 Credits)
An examination of advertising practices. A review of the social and technological history of American advertising beginning with the print media. Social and interpersonal meanings imbedded within the publicity images of both print and television are examined as well as the continuing penetration of advertising and marketing strategies in media culture. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, APPI, ASAM, CCMS, CCUS, CMST, JOUR, WGSS.
COMC 3280. Representing Asians in Journalism and Media. (4 Credits)
From traditional to social media, from the “yellow peril” stereotype in the 19th century and the model minority discourse in the 20th century to #StopAsianHate during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 21st century, the media have played and continue to play an important role in the history of Asian Americans. Media activities, whether in the processes of media production, representation, or consumption, have largely shaped how the Asian American identity is perceived and how the Asian American community is evolving. At the same time, many Asian Americans are media producers themselves, telling their stories across media platforms. Through class materials, discussions, and projects, this course provides an opportunity for students to study the roles and practices of various mediums, such as news media, popular media, and digital media, as well as their implications for Asian Americans and beyond. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AAST, CELP, CMST, DTEM, JETH, JOUR, JPLH, PLUR.
COMC 3310. Ethics and Popular Culture. (4 Credits)
For many people, popular culture -- specifically television and film -- is their first exposure to complex ethical issues and resulting decision-making processes. Yet, despite the fact that pop culture plays a large part in shaping our moral standpoint, it is often overlooked as a source of academic ethical discourse. This course will examine the relationship between ethics and popular culture throughout the past century: from sideshows and Vaudeville to reality shows and social media. It will look at ethical issues in the entertainment industry and media, how we learn about ethics from pop culture, and how to be an ethical consumer of a variety of media. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CELP, CMST, JOUR.
COMC 3328. Media Logistics. (4 Credits)
This course introduces students to advanced topics in the study of media industries by examining the logistics of media operations. Students will explore how media industries organize, refine, and administer the “supply chains” of media technologies, while examining the ways in which media technologies are themselves critical to global logistical flows and communication networks—along with the environmental and social impacts they entail. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, CMST.
COMC 3329. Media Archaeology. (4 Credits)
Media Archaeology is a field of research that attempts to understand the conditions of contemporary media by looking to their past—with a particular interest in the forgotten, obsolete, obscure, or otherwise dead media technologies, forms, and formats left behind along the way. From music for vinyl records, wax cylinders, and Tefifons, to programs broadcast on cathode ray televisions and recorded on BETAMAX, to games played on Atari and oscilloscope, this course introduces students to the skills and resources necessary for excavating and theorizing the place of seemingly dead media. Learning Objectives: • Develop skills necessary for media archaeology research, both technical skills like soldering, and the scholarly habits required for relevant word, image, and sound archives. • Understand the various theories of media archaeology, their critiques, and criticisms, including writings from Friedrich Kittler, Jussi Parikka, Wolfgang Ernst, and Jonathan Sterne. • Demonstrate the ability to restore, operate, or re-engineer historic media artifacts in order to re-contextualize the pathways of their underlying economic, political, and technical networks for contemporary media culture. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CMST, DTEM.
Prerequisite: COMM 1000.
COMC 3330. Peace, Justice, and the Media. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 3110): This course analyzes the ways in which the media represent the issues of peace and justice. Considering the relevance of peace and justice for democratic practices, the variety of media depictions of such issues will be analyzed. Topics such as environmental and economic justice, poverty and the poor, race and gender, war and peace, and media ethics and values will be covered. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, APPI, ASAM, CELP, CMST, HCWL, HUST, JOUR, PJIN, PJMJ, PJST.
COMC 3350. Media Law. (4 Credits)
This course is designed to introduce the communication and media studies major to the basic issues in the field of media law. Examined here are the Constitutional principles underlying the major Supreme Court cases that have established the parameters governing the use of communication technologies in the country. Special focus will be given to the various legal changes posed by new media. Juniors and Seniors only. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, APPI, ASAM, ASHS, ASSC, CELP, CMST, DTPL, JOUR, JPLH, NMDD.
COMC 3370. Ethical Issues in Media. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 3476): Review of some basic ethical principles and examination of media related issues such as freedom of expression, the right to privacy and the public's right to know. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, APPI, ASAM, ASSC, BEHR, CELP, CMST, JETH, JOUR, LPGP, NMDD, NMDE, WGSS.
COMC 3375. Children and Media. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 3309): This course explores the controversy surrounding children's media. Topics such as the role of media in socialization and learning, the effects of media content and communication technologies on children's behavior, thought and emotions are examined. The functions that media perform for children, and the efforts to design media specifically for children are considered. Various forms such as television, popular music, film, video games, fairy tales and children's literature are explored. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, APPI, ASAM, ASHS, ASSC, CELP, CMST.
COMC 3378. Media, Youth Culture, and Civic Discourse. (4 Credits)
This course will discuss how media, politics, and other civic institutions are evolving in the digital era; how politicians, journalists, and other civic groups are trying to reach out to millennials and members of Generation Z; and how young citizens are creating their own modes of civic discourse. Throughout, we will investigate: (1) the millennial/Gen Z media consumer/citizen, (2) the space of public (old and new) media, (3) the character of our political discourse, and (4) the state of civic engagement. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, APPI, ASAM, CMST, JOUR, JPLH.
COMC 3380. International Communication. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 3106): Comparative study of media systems of different countries. The role of the media in the formation of the concept of nationality. Theories of communication development and the debate around the international flow of information. How the media informs us about other countries and how, through the media, we form our conception of the world. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ASSC, CELP, CMST, GLBL, HCWL, HUST, INST, IPE, ISIN, JOUR, LALS, LASS, NMDD, NMMI.
COMC 3999. Tutorial. (3 Credits)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.
COMC 4114. Speaking for Change. (4 Credits)
This advanced public speaking course trains students in a variety of long-form presentation scenarios in an effort to develop sophisticated techniques of storytelling and persuasion in a contemporary communication landscape. The course will emphasize rehearsal and performance techniques, storytelling structures, visual aids, speaking without notes, and exploration of societal issues and values of great personal importance. Students’ practice will culminate in a 20-minute public speaking engagement for the Fordham community. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, PJMJ, PJST.
Prerequisites: COMC 3114 or COMM 2501.
COMC 4115. Communication and the Food System. (4 Credits)
This course focuses on the relationships between contemporary food systems, communication and media systems, culture, and social change. It explores the unique contributions that perspectives from communication and media theory can bring to the study of agriculture, food, and society. It also considers how these perspectives can inform actionable practices that aim to bolster long-term nutritional health, economic equity, and global environmental sustainability. The course covers a diverse set of topics, including food and its relationship to human civilization, identity, journalism, marketing, entertainment, animals, the environment, labor, nutrition, technology, policy, ethics, etc. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASHS, CCMS, CCUS, ENST, ESEL, ESHC, PJEN, PJST.
COMC 4146. Health Communication and Social Justice. (4 Credits)
Blending the fields of interpersonal communication, media studies, critical rhetoric, and medical sociology, this course offers students a background in health communication from critical cultural perspectives. We will explore a wide range of health-related topics including mental health, sexual health and reproduction, the diagnostic process, death and dying, and disability justice. The course will analyze theoretical perspectives on health communication as well as research methods and processes through which knowledge in this field is produced and disseminated. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCMS, CCUS, DISA, DIUL.
COMC 4170. Dissent and Disinformation. (4 Credits)
An exploration of the moral and ethical conflict between conscience and convention, principle and group loyalty, received wisdom and freshly perceived evidence, from disparate disciplines which converge on the continuity of ancient religious and political dissent with modern forms of dissent and the social control measures they provoke in modern mass-mediated society. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, APPI, ASAM, CCMS, CELP, JOUR, JPLH, SRVL.
COMC 4211. Media and Modernity. (4 Credits)
Drawing from Marx’s claim that in modernity “all that is solid melts into air,” we will use perspectives from economics, history, sociology, communication and cultural studies to examine the dialectic of creation and destruction at the center of modern life. Modernity is characterized by numerous paradoxes, including the tensions between tradition and change, progress and discontinuity, universalism and atomization, the religious and the secular, and private and public life. How are these paradoxes manifested in our culture? What have we gained as a result of the processes of modernity, and what have we lost? How might we make sense of modernity? How might we engage modern life? Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, ASAM, CCUS, CMST, ICC.
COMC 4222. Media and the Environment. (4 Credits)
This course looks at the variety of ways in which media depict the natural world through stories, narratives, and images of nature and the environment in both fiction and non-fiction formats, as well as persuasive forms of communication. In assessing how our relationship with nature is mediated through culture and media, we will look at a broad spectrum of genres from films, documentary, TV, magazines, advertising, environmental journalism and conservation campaigns. We will compare such media images and narratives to key environmental texts on major topics in ecology, fining points of convergence and difference and assessing the consequences. We will examine the ways in which popular formulations of the natural world influence public opinion, human behavior and environmental policy. Using case studies we will examine informational, educational, and persuasive campaigns designed around topics such as transportation, chemical production, food and agricultural practices, and others. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, APPI, ASHS, CCUS, CMST, ENST, ESEL, ESHC, ICC, JOUR, PJEN, PJMJ, PJST.
COMC 4241. Communication, Popular Culture, and Philosophy. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 4711): This course will draw from the fields of Communication and Philosophy, exploring the ways in which the two disciplines complement and inform one another, each offering a route to a deeper understanding of issues of concern to both fields. Our terrain of inquiry will be contemporary popular culture, in the forms of mass, digital and social media. Calling upon a diverse range of scholarship from both intellectual traditions, we will examine the ways in which popular forms of mediated communication can help to engage a mass audience in timeless philosophical issues, as well as inviting us to ponder newer kinds of philosophical questions, unique to our time. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, ICC, URST.
COMC 4246. Media, Disability, Futurity. (4 Credits)
This interdisciplinary capstone course explores the theme of futurity through the lenses of media studies, disability studies, and narrative studies. Futurity is not just the stuff of science fiction, but is rather an integrated part of the rhetoric we use when imagining the kind of world we want to build. Media and other digital technologies are often a part of this narrative imagining, and with those tools we often imagine which bodies we might repair, represent, or rebuild. Using a variety of interpretive and analytical methods, students will ask what futures are available to which bodies and why; how bodies are figured as legibly human, and how dominant narratives enable or foreclose the full expression of a range of embodiments. The object of analysis is simultaneously representative, linguistic, narrative or historical: this course argues that any critical examination of embodiment necessarily touches upon not only key cultural studies categories such as race, class, gender and sexuality, but also upon the question of technology’s relationship to the body and its narrative figuring of health and flourishing. Students will finish the course with a nuanced understanding of how contemporary texts both visual and linguistic determine a shared cultural imagining of a better world, and how we might work to craft that image in a more inclusive and socially just way. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, COLI, DISA, DIUL, ENGL, ICC, PJSJ, PJST.
COMC 4266. Communicating Revolution. (4 Credits)
In the past four centuries, there have been attempts at social and political revolution, all of which have been made possible by media. The interdisciplinary course will concentrate primarily on the past revolutions including the American, French, Russia and Cuban Revolutions, asking how did the idea arise that it might be possible to create a new society, with greater justice and equality for all, by overthrowing the old, and what was the role of the media in defining that idea? How has each revolution partially succeeded and partially failed, and what part has the media played in either promoting or opposing it? Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: CCUS, JOUR, PJSJ, PJST.
COMC 4268. Media and the Social Construction of Reality. (4 Credits)
What does it mean to have "social awareness"? How is our reality constructed? How do our media, society, and culture, and our own particular upbringing affect our ideas of reality? What role(s) do media play in our being socially aware? This course explores these and other questions through both media ecological and sociological lenses. Students will examine the relationship between media and social awareness and how different media interact with our social awareness. The course explores the ways we receive and evaluate images, narratives, representations of events, and depictions of peoples and groups. Students investigate the production of media representations across a broad spectrum of outlets, formats, genres, and programming in print, broadcast, and new media. The course also focuses on the roles and functions of media in society and culture, as well as the public's need for information and knowledge in a 21st-century environment of globalization, convergence, and technological and economic change. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, APPI, CCUS, ICC, PJMJ, PJST.
COMC 4338. American Political Communication. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 4706): This survey course addresses political communications in the American context. Students will examine the activities of key political actors (elected officials, institutions, organizations, public and the media) and will engage with key works in the field to assess how political actors use mediated public practices to bolster narratives, create consensus, and allocate power and resources. Major topics for consideration include: the public sphere and public opinion; propaganda and public relations; presidential rhetoric; electoral politics and campaigning; journalism, the news, political humor, and public life; research on media and new media effects; meditation of identity politics (age, religion, race, gender, and sexual orientation); and political advocacy, civic engagement, and social movements. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, APPI, ASHS, CMST, JOUR.
COMC 4340. Freedom of Expression. (4 Credits)
The opposing historical trends of authoritarian centralism and libertarian pluralism are traced through a variety of political orders, philosophies, and communication systems. The interplay of technological forms of communication predominant social values is examined and specific cases are subject to evaluative judgments. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, APPI, ASAM, ASHS, ASRP, CCMS, CELP, CMST, DTEM, DTPL, ICC, JOUR, JPLH, LPGP, NMDD, NMMI, PJMJ, PJST.
COMC 4348. Religion, Theology, and New Media. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 4411): An interdisciplinary capstone course, this course examines the historical and theoretical significance of the intersection between communication, technologies and religious communities. Drawing on the disciplinary methods and assumptions of both communication and media studies and theology, the course will ask students to critically and theoretically explore the significance of religion as a cultural phenomenon as well as to take seriously the theological significance of media practices as articulated by religious subjects. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, ASRP, CCMS, CMST, DTEM, ICC, JOUR, THEO.
COMC 4360. Communication Ethics and the Public Sphere. (4 Credits)
(Formerly COMM 4004): This course deals with the policy decisions and ethical issues facing society in the telecommunications age. Of special concern are the ethical issues raised by the melding together of heretofore discrete media into vertically integrated, profit oriented, corporations. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: AMST, APPI, ASAM, CCMS, CELP, CMST, DTEV, EP4, HCWL, HUST, JETH, JOUR, PJMJ, PJST, URST, VAL.
COMC 4370. Ethical Controversies in 21st Century Media. (4 Credits)
Mass media have long played a significant role not only in the ways society informs and communicates with itself, but also in the manner in which it reproduces its social mores and reality. With the rise of digital and social media, these dynamics are both disrupted and deepened, even as they continue to evolve. Students who plan to pursue careers in the media (professional and academic) will be faced with an unusually challenging array of difficult choices that carry with them potent ethical repercussions. This course explores contemporary ethical debates in media on the levels of theory, institutions, audiences and practices. It strives to equip future media professionals with sensitivity to moral values under challenge as well as the necessary skills in critical thinking and decision-making for navigating their roles and responsibilities in relation to these challenges. For all students, the class also hopes to hone ethical insights as media consumers as well as participating citizens in media-saturated societies.
Attributes: CELP, CMST, DTEV, EP4, JETH, JOUR, NMDD, NMDE, VAL.
COMC 4380. Media and Moral Philosophy. (4 Credits)
This senior values EP4 seminar examines public discourse through the lens of moral philosophy. Debate in the public sphere often uses moral narratives to make sense of difficult issues or events. When something grips the national attention—such as a school shooting, a hotly contested election, or an environmental disaster—we don’t just need to know what happened, we also need to grapple with why. We want to understand whether and how this changes who we are as a society and our place in history. To this end, news and social media create diverse and often contradictory narratives about who is blameworthy and who is a victim, about what moral goods are at stake and the best way to protect and promote them. Understanding these narratives in moral terms is crucial to becoming an ethically informed public citizen, because it helps us grasp the deeply human stakes underlying what may often seem like endless newsfeed chatter. Each iteration of the course focuses on a different issue. In this version of the course, we will be looking at the moral narratives around gender. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.
Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, ASRP, CCMS, CCUS, CMST, EP4, VAL, WGSS.
COMC 4999. Tutorial. (4 Credits)
Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.