I was really impressed with our class discussion today. Representation, as I said, is a very crucial yet very heady topic in media studies. And it was great to see everyone giving great contributions to analyzing the media texts that we had in class. HERE are the lecture slides for your reference.
We don't have discussion questions this week pertaining to theory (unlike in previous weeks) because I do want us to focus on applying the constructivist approaches rather than know the whole shebang about ideology vs discourse debates, etc. The first task for any budding analyst of representations really is to commit to the assumption that reality is constructed and is always-already mediated by systems of representation. But of course, if you do want to clarify certain issues about the theoretical approaches that we discussed, feel free to do that here.
More crucially, I suggest that we post here interesting links to articles, YouTube videos, etc. so that we can try to analyze them together. To kick things off, you may want to look at representations of the VEIL in BBC news reports right HERE.
JULY 20 CLASS
Maybe you can even post a working analysis of a media text here before your class presentation/quiz on Friday, July 20. (Diane's group can present on July 27. Who else is going on immersion on July 20?) Remember that our class will be in Com B on July 20. BTW, the two readings (Said; Silverstone) will be available in Filipiniana beginning Monday. And the book Exploring Media Discourse by Myra Macdonald is in the Reserve Section. This is an excellent book for the many budding discourse analysts in class who wish to see more examples such as: a) the demonizing of Islam, b) the construction of children at risk / discourse of paedophelia, and c) panics about "unsafe" food, etc.
CASE STUDIES
I know some of you are tired of thinking of research topics because of your thesis, but I am encouraging you to begin consulting me about potential topics for your case study. Make sure that you pick topics that interest you; it's important to be excited about your topic. I would hope to collect your proposed topics by July 27.
PUBLIC SEMINAR SERIES
On a different note, I am looking forward to hearing your suggestions for alternative name studies for our seminar series. Please email me at bertiebott@hotmail.com or even post here your suggestions. I'm hoping that our design team can start work by next weekend already. :)
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3 comments:
Hi sir!
I just got in touch with one of my groupmates, Redmond. He is also going on immersion this Friday. When do you suggest we present? Thanks :D
Dre
You can present next week, dear.
Hi Sir,
I looked at some of the BBC reports on the veil. From my interpretations, I don't think that Muslim women wearing veils were represented in just one way.
First, I think that in particular, the Muslim teacher who was suspended for wearing a veil was represented as a VICTIM. Some of those interviewed have expressed that the school should have respected her religious beliefs and that like everyone else, she must be given the freedom to wear what she likes.
Yet, she and the other Muslim women wearing veils were also represented as DEVIANT and in the words of the teacher herself, as ALIENS. Most noteworthy was the comment of Tony Blair that the practice of wearing veils is a mark of separation. Other interviewees and panelists also said that she should just conform to the school's policies, and that she could not teach properly if the students do not see her facial expressions. They seem to imply that her insistence on wearing veils was contrary to a social norm and therefore divides their community.
Due to these representations and the full-blown media coverage, the issue shifted from being a local concern to being a national, and now global concern. Furthermore, it no longer was a religious issue but became a political one as well.
-Ayee Macaraig =)
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