This course serves as an introduction to folklore studies with a special focus on its intersection with social and cultural theory. The word "folklore" usually refers to traditional expressive practices, ranging from verbal arts (such as proverbs and legends) to material culture (such as costumes and handicrafts) to customs (such as rituals and festivals). But as this class demonstrates, the study of folklore has changed over the years. We now recognize that all communities, not just traditional ones, have folklore.

This course takes the view that our experience of music is mediated by biology, society and culture. As such it tells us a lot about who we are in relation to our cultural and physical environment. Like other forms of communication, music can be studied in terms of its texts, institutions, and audiences. Unlike other forms of communication, music is best understood from an interdisciplinary perspective that deals with the physics of sound, human biology, and musicology.

This course applies a communication perspective to the study of health, disease and illness. The course will introduce, investigate and explore the nature of communication processes that influence and/are influenced by health and health care contexts. Communication theories and practices will be applied to a variety of health issues including the physician-patient relationship, the design of health media campaigns, the influence of health promotion on human behavior, health literacy, Western and cultural expressions of health and the use of interactive technology.

Why do we put certain films into categories? What constitutes a film genre, how do we recognize it, and what do we do with it? This course examines these questions and more by considering a specific genre over the course of the semester. We will learn to think of genre as a way of comparing and contrasting different films. Genre will also be thought of as a way of creating expectations and measuring experience and meaning. The power of film genre is that it allows us to understand film as a text and film as a social practice at the very same time.

In this course we explore ways in which communication and culture are intertwined, focusing on cultural and social variability in patterns of perception, interaction, and meaning making. Topical foci include implications of subjectivity for communication; types of meaning in language and interaction; cultural and ritual organization of talk; language socialization; interethnic and intercultural communication; and gender and interaction. (Gen.Ed. SB, U)

This course is designed to allow you to engage with the methods of qualitative and quantitative research, to examine the possible research questions different methods allow, to understand both the limits and the potential of various methods, to be able to conceptualize and execute a research project and apply its methods, and also to reflect on the role of Communication research and the ways it helps us to know ourselves and to know the world. Satisfies the Integrative Experience requirement for BA-Comm majors.

In this course we explore ways in which communication and culture are intertwined, focusing on cultural and social variability in patterns of perception, interaction, and meaning making. Topical foci include implications of subjectivity for communication; types of meaning in language and interaction; cultural and ritual organization of talk; language socialization; interethnic and intercultural communication; and gender and interaction. (Gen.Ed. SB, U)

In this course we explore ways in which communication and culture are intertwined, focusing on cultural and social variability in patterns of perception, interaction, and meaning making. Topical foci include implications of subjectivity for communication; types of meaning in language and interaction; cultural and ritual organization of talk; language socialization; interethnic and intercultural communication; and gender and interaction. (Gen.Ed. SB, U)

In this course we explore ways in which communication and culture are intertwined, focusing on cultural and social variability in patterns of perception, interaction, and meaning making. Topical foci include implications of subjectivity for communication; types of meaning in language and interaction; cultural and ritual organization of talk; language socialization; interethnic and intercultural communication; and gender and interaction. (Gen.Ed. SB, U)

In this course we explore ways in which communication and culture are intertwined, focusing on cultural and social variability in patterns of perception, interaction, and meaning making. Topical foci include implications of subjectivity for communication; types of meaning in language and interaction; cultural and ritual organization of talk; language socialization; interethnic and intercultural communication; and gender and interaction. (Gen.Ed. SB, U)