6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021099BER for all students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students who want to enroll for this course, must have passed ‘Introduction to Communication Studies’ and must have obtained at least 30 ECTS-credits on bachelor level.
Taught in
English
Partnership Agreement
Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Communication Sciences
External partners
Universiteit Gent
Educational team
Frederik Dhaenens (course titular)
Activities and contact hours

24 contact hours Lecture
12 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
144 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

Diversity and identity have become key notions in contemporary societies. Both in popular and academic debate, socio-cultural issues related to social class, racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities are being broached. This course is particularly concerned with how contemporary media and popular culture deal with (these debates on) diversity and aims to provide students with knowledge and insight into the role media and culture assume in the process of making sense of the world.

Drawing on various perspectives within media, communication, and cultural studies, this course starts with the following questions on media, culture, and diversity: What approaches are used by media and popular culture to represent diversity? What kinds of diversity are tackled and which ones are ignored? How do audiences respond to representations of diversity? To answer these and other diversity-related questions, this course assumes a critical, holistic and contextual approach. It focuses on particular types of media (film, popular music, television, digital media…), takes into account the role of production and reception in the process of making meaning of diversity, and uses historical and contemporary examples/cases from Western media and popular culture as illustrations to the issues at stake.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Downloadable Powerpoint slides
Digital course material (Required) : Additional scholarly literature (max. 2 book chapters or articles per seminar)
Additional info

This course combines different teaching methods:

•  Lecture: offering an introduction to key concepts, important theories, and contemporary debates prevailing in the research on media, culture and diversity.

•  Self-reliant study activities: students individually and independently process and assess additional scholarly literature that deals with the content of the course, as preparation to the formal lectures.

•  Group work: Students work together on understanding a contemporary case that links up to one or more of the key issues and concepts presented within the course and present the case in class.

Learning Outcomes

General competences

  1. Being able to describe, explain and reflect on the key concepts, important theories, and contemporary debates prevailing in the research on media, culture and diversity.
  2. Being able to apply key concepts onto contemporary phenomena that relate to media, culture and diversity in order to make a make a scholarly sound and informed judgment and evaluation of these phenomena.
  3. Being able to argue what the relevance is of media, communication and cultural studies for the analysis of contemporary problems and, as such, to demonstrate the societal role and responsibility of a communication scholar.
  4. Being able to successfully conduct a small research project on diversity and popular (media) culture in group.
  5. Being able to clearly and concisely communicate a research project on diversity and popular (media) culture to fellow students.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 75% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 25% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 75 which comprises 75% of the final mark.

    Note: .

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Group Presentation with a relative weight of 25 which comprises 25% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The written exam consists of questions of reproduction, insight and application:

  • The questions of reproduction and insight test the student’s knowledge and understanding of the key concepts, important theories, and contemporary debates.
  • The questions of application evaluate the student’s abilities to apply the key concepts onto contemporary, relevant events within contemporary media culture.

Evaluation assignment:

  • Create a group presentation based on a topic that relates to the setup of this course

In order to pass the course, students have to participate in the evaluation of both components (i.e. written exam and group presentation).

If students pass the group assignment (score of 10/20 or more) but fail the written exam, students can retain the score of the group assignment in the resit and/or following academic year. The student has to e-mail the lecturer within a week (from the moment the results have been communicated) if they want to redo the assignment, which will be in the form of a modified and individual assignment.

 

Note: Further information on the assignments and grading is included in the seminar's guidelines that will be published on Canvas.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Communication Studies
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Political Sciences
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Sociology
Bachelor of Social Sciences: Startplan