LFU:online

The three broad-ranging questions (outlined above) are related to student learning outcomes through the development of competencies (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes). These competencies will derive from: 

•  Lectures: Providing students with an introduction to the field of “International Communication” (focusing on different theories) especially as it relates to Europe. 

•  Textual Analysis: Focusing on two specific media genres (film and music videos), students will develop competency in “reading” such texts using the theoretical language of International Communication.

•  Workshop: Students will participate in group discussion (including in-class writing and presentation assignments) that focuses on the media genres identified above.

This is an introductory course to the field of International Communication (hereafter, IC). IC developed as a subset of the field of Mass Communication (a field based on the premise that mass media -- which includes film, television, smartphones, social media, video games, etc.) are central to making sense of the nature of contemporary society. IC takes those assumptions and extends them to a global level, arguing that mass media connects societies, cultures, and states across regions and the world at large. Most critically, it mobilizes discourses of Identity within and across national borders. The following equation sums up the field: Globalization + Media + Identity = International Communication.