University of Colorado-Boulder
JOUR 4871-002
RELIGION AND MEDIA
Fall 2011
TU and TH- 11—12:15 Armory 218
Blog site: coolreligion.edublogs.org
Click Here to Post on the Blog:
Dr. Nabil Echchaibi
Office: 1B29, Armory
Office Hours: Tu/Th 9-11 a.m. or by appointment
Phone: 303-492-8246
E-Mail: nabil.echchaibi@colorado.edu
Website: nabilechchaibi.com
Introduction to Course
This course will introduce the major themes and trends in the mediation of religion and the religious inflection of the media. Against prediction, religion has not faded away in the 21st Century, but has persisted as a social, cultural, and political force. Religion, spirituality, and other things that might fit under the same rubric remain active in the media age. Indeed, there is an extent to which the media age has contributed to this situation. This course considers the way religion uses media, is an object of mediation, mediates itself, and is a dimension that interacts with other significant social and cultural categories of media.
Expectations
The course is organized around its class meetings, lectures and discussions. The class readings must be completed in advance of the class for which they are assigned. Study questions for the readings are provided in the syllabus. There is also one film-viewing assignment, and those films must be viewed prior to the class in which they will be discussed. Grades will include five brief projects, including a ten-page term project paper and a class report of that project. There will be no examinations. A relatively large part of the grade will be based on class participation, so regular attendance, prepared to discuss the material, is necessary.
Rules
It may not be necessary to lay out ground rules for discussion, but due to the potentially sensitive nature of some topics, the following rules will apply. These will be discussed and can be modified as experience might warrant:
1. We will not proselytize
2. We will not confuse “subjective” and “objective” authority
3. We will treat religion as a scholarly issue: in the academy, scholarly
sources are preferred
4. We will cite authoritative sources and do so accurately
5. In papers, projects, and discussions, we will strive to cite more than one
source
6. Only entries from Wikipedia specifically approved by the instructor may be
used and no
exclusively Internet/web sources may
be used for papers or projects
7. Cellphones will be turned off during class
8. Laptops may not be used for note-taking (the instructor will post his
outlines and ppts
to make it easier to make notes from
lectures). Laptops may be opened only
when authorized.
Required Books Ordered at CU Bookstore
-Hoover, Stewart M. (2006). Religion in the Media Age. London: Routledge.
-Morgan, David, Ed. (2008). Keywords in Media, Religion, and Culture. London: Routledge.
-Silk, Mark (1997). Unsecular Media: Making News of Religion in America. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
The other readings and websites are available as pdf files on the course website under “schedule and readings.”
Book Suggestions:
- Robert Wuthnow, Rediscovering the Sacred
- James Carey, Communication as Culture
- Stewart Hoover & Knut Lundby, Rethinking Media, Religion and Culture
- Heidi Campbell, When Religion Meets New Media
- Stewart Hoover and Lynn Schofield Clark, Practicing Religion in the Age of the Media.
- Daniel Stout and Judith Buddenbaum, Religion and Mass Media
- Hoover, Venturelli & Wagner, Religion in Public Discourse
- John Ferré, Channels of Belief
- Bobby Alexander, Televangelism Reconsidered
- Video: The World's Religions, Huston Smith, with Bill Moyers
Three films available from Netflix:
The
Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin
Scorsese, 1988)
Jesus of Montreal (Denys Arcand,
1989)
Class Projects and Assignments
1- Three-page reflection on an example of mediation of religion (due 9/20)
In this brief essay, choose an example that illustrates the extent to which religion is (or is not) shaped by the media. You will receive a handout with a more detailed description of this assignment.
2. Submit one example of religion journalism with a three-page commentary (due 10/13)
In this commentary, choose an example of reporting on religion from a newspaper, a magazine, a tv show, a radio broadcast, a website, etc. and reflect on its significance and implications for how religion is covered in journalism.
3. A "course blog" (150w/wk, the best 5 posts turned in 10/25 and at end of semester 11/29)
I rely on you to comment and reflect on the readings assigned for this class. I’m not a big supporter of quizzes, but we will have some if there is enough evidence from our class discussions that the readings are not completed as assigned. Each week, five of you will be assigned to blog on the course Website on the readings of that week and the rest of us are welcome to leave comments or introduce new arguments. You should think of your blogging as a substantive contribution to our understanding of the core arguments of the readings; not a mere rant about whether you liked the text or not. This will help move our class discussions beyond just a simple rehashing of the arguments presented in the readings. Blogging is not only about posting your comments but it is also about reading other people’s posts, politely challenging their ideas and interacting with them in the comment section.
Blog site: coolreligion.edublogs.org
4. Ten-page term paper on a topic agreed with instructor (by 10/4 (proposal)—12/1 (paper) with a class presentation (after Fall Break).
This paper should be based on in-depth
interviews with 3 people of a different faith from your own. You will reflect on
their use of the media and their thoughts on the mediation of their faith. Your
reflection should draw on the readings from this semester and provide a
critical analysis of the material covered in class.
5. Midterm Exam (10/20)
This is a closed book exam. I will hold one session before the exam to review what will have been covered up until that point.
Your final grade will be determined this way:
Attendance and Participation 15% (Attendance is mandatory)
Blog Entries 10%
Midterm Exam 20%
Short mediation reflection 15%
Short religion journalism reflection 15%
Final paper 25%
Important deadlines:
-Blog Entries: Oct. 25 and Nov. 29
-Midterm Exam: Oct. 20
-Short Mediation Reflection: Sept. 20
-Short Religion Journalism Reflection: Oct. 13
-Final Paper Proposal: Oct. 4 and Final Paper: Dec. 1
Academic Honesty
All work must be your own, and your work alone. Inventing sources or lifting material from the Web and presenting it as if you had conducted your own research, or coaxing/paying another student to produce your own assignment are examples of academic dishonesty.
You can expect that any form of academic dishonesty will result in an F – either for the assignment or for the entire course, depending on the severity of the misconduct. If you have questions or are unsure about a particular practice, please see me before you turn in your assignment. A student honor code has been adopted in all academic units of the university, including the journalism program. For more information about the honor code, please go to: http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/
Disability
If you qualify for accommodations
because of a disability, please submit to me
a letter from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs can
be
addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on
documented
disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Center for Community N200, and
http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices.
If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see guidelines at
http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices/go.cgi?select=temporary.html
Religious Observances
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. I am willing to work with anyone who needs accommodation for religious celebrations. You need to let me know at the beginning of the semester if you need special accommodation.
Help!
I want you to succeed in this course, and to enjoy it in the process. Please don't feel you have to wait until the end of the semester to talk to me about your performance, or about any other aspect of the course. I encourage you to call, e-mail or stop by my office to discuss your work.
About your professor
I am an assistant professor in the program of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Before joining CU, I spent three years as an assistant professor at an American university in Switzerland. Before enrolling in graduate school at Indiana University-Bloomington where I obtained my MA and PhD, I worked in radio as copy editor.
My research interests engage questions of identity, race and minority media in Western Europe and the impact of international satellite broadcasting on religion in the Middle East. In the past few years, I have conducted ethnographic research among immigrant communities and minority media industries in Berlin and Paris. I am currently writing a book, Formations of the Muslim Modern: Islam, Media and Alternative Modernity, which explores how Muslims engage, through their own media production, modernity as a source of both contention and identification. Using a multilayered analysis of six case studies of Muslim media in Cairo, Los Angeles, Dubai, San Francisco, London, and Austin, the book examines how transnational satellite television and digital media have become prime discursive and performative stages where young individuals and institutions debate and contest what it means to be “modern” in the Muslim context.
I am also the associate director of the Center for Media, Religion and Culture. Feel free to talk to me about research opportunities at the center.
