Course Description
Explores the interaction of communication, engagement, and community in the purview of social change. Focused areas include the knowledge structures of the modern university; the constitutive role of culture as a space of change; and the politics of transformative action in local, national, and global contexts.
Athena Title
Commun Engagement and Comm Dev
Prerequisite
ALDR 7400E
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
• To understand the role of foundational sociology and philosophy as it relates to communication scholarship today – specifically the Frankfort School. • To examine and critique the role of various theoretical frameworks and theoretically informed methodologies in the context of culture, communication, community, and social change. • To conceptualize methodological tools that illuminate the epistemology of a community-oriented approach to agricultural and environmental science communication.
Topical Outline
1. Welcome, introduction, and course overview 2. Culture, epistemology, and ontology 3. Culture and critical reflexivity 4. Culture, identity, and food 5. Culture, modernity, and food production 6. Culture and communities 7. Culture and community engagement 8. Culture, structure, and agency 9. Culture, agricultural communication, and public policy 10. Culture, ways of knowing, and held meanings 11. Culture and held meanings 12. Alternative ways of knowing 13. Agency in food practices and narratives 14. Culture, food, and resistance 15. Culture and coalition building 16. Culture and social change