Course Description
The rhetorical nature, function, development, and impact of social movements on society as applied to one or more case studies and the role of the media in social change.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to write a graduate level
paper appropriate for publication in an academic journal. Such
an essay will require graduate students to conduct original
research utilizing primary materials. In addition, graduate
students will be required to read widely in the secondary
literature related to their essay. Of course, graduate
students will be graded as graduate students and not in
relation to the undergraduates in the class.
Athena Title
Communication Social Movements
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in COMM 4360E
Prerequisite
COMM 3300 or permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, some students will be able to plan and carry out a social movement designed to confront and change oppressive aspects of the current U.S. power structure using oral, written, and mediated forms of communication. At the end of this course, other students who join the current power structure will be able to anticipate and crush attempts at social change. At the end of this course, still other students will be able to identify the common tendencies in rhetoric about social movements. Students are required to complete a variety of assignments that involve conveying critical arguments through multiple communication channels, including oral, visual, and mediated.
Topical Outline
Topics include: Case Studies on the Civil Rights Movement, Environmental Movement, Women's Movement, Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement Writing for social change Structuring communication for social change
Syllabus