Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0167 - Digital Resistance

This introductory seminar on media analysis and production will consider how constructions of power are embodied in technologies and conversely, how technologies shape our notions of authority and how we actively mobilize against it. In recent years, access to information and images has shifted dramatically. PDAs/Handheld technologies, social media networks, live web-streaming, video games, and podcasts eclipse mass-media broadcast channels distributing entertainment, news, and information. Drawing upon Media Arts, Critical Ethnic Studies, and Cultural Studies, we will examine models of Digital Resistance like Citizen Journalism, Community Access, Artivism, Hacktivism, and Digital Movements like BlackLivesMatter, Occupy, Arab Spring, and IdleNoMore in order to understand: precursors to contemporary innovations; Corporate Media and Government gatekeeping of information; modes of production; the relationship between media, information and action. Through readings, responses, visual projects, and research essays, students will learn to critically read and make digital media and contend with it as a mass language.

Arts, Design, and Media Culture, Humanities, and Languages Power, Community and Social Justice Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Lab fee: $30. In this course, students are expected to spend 8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.