CMA02 The Mediated Politics of Everyday Life

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Charles Michael Elavsky, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Iveta Jansová, Ph.D.
Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Supplier department: Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites
Interest in the world around us.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
In this course, we will explore the role of the mass media in fostering democracy and democratic practices, as well as civic awareness and engagement more broadly. In doing so, we will consider the concept of democracy itself and the media’s theoretical and practical relationship to nurturing its principles. We will also consider the role of government and its relationship to the media in constructing political knowledge, conceptions of representative democracy, and an informed populace. Critical to all of this is discerning how culture impacts the mass media, how the mass media both contribute to and are shaped by culture, and what civic responsibilities and obligations you have within this framework. This course will provide a space for us to analyze and discuss the relationships between the government, the mass media, and the people towards enacting democracy and social justice. Our first step is to develop and foster critical thinking (meaning to question that which is most obvious) about ourselves, so as to discern how information, ideas and experiences are produced, disseminated and understood in relation to the mass media within our culture, and how specific cultural, social, political, and economic forces influence and inform these processes. In short, we will be tackling a lot of conceptual groundwork and for you to get the most out of this class, it is imperative you complete (and think through) the readings and assignments and actively participate in the discussions. If you do this, you will never see your world the same way again. Moreover, the class will have more meaning for you and be more fun for everyone. Caveat: You may encounter ideas and thoughts in this course you may not agree with or that may even offend you. Understand that this is part of the strategy behind the course design – to challenge you -- as we seek to engage alternative and opposing perspectives.
Learning outcomes
enhancing critical literacy;
developing civic speaking/engagement;
developing critical consciousness;
enhancing English dialogue
Syllabus
  • Introduction to the Big Picture – overview of syllabus, requirement, course concepts
  • Journalism as Media Practice – Big Media/information as Civic Practice
  • Social Media/Conspiracy Theories – Media Content
  • Performing the Matrix: Social Media as sites of agency/structure; our media habits
  • Capitalism/Communism/Neoliberalism – The Political Economy of Media
  • Populism/Polarization/Nationalism as Global Trends
  • War
  • Sexual Violence
  • Racism
  • LGBTQ+ through he lenses of pop culture
  • Mental Health
  • Course Wrap Up
  • Test
Literature
  • S. Elizabeth Bird (2011) ARE WE ALL PRODUSERS NOW?, Cultural Studies, 25:4-5, 502-516, DOI: 10.1080/09502386.2011.600532
  • Sophie Hindes & Bianca Fileborn (2020) “Girl power gone wrong”: #MeToo, Aziz Ansari, and media reporting of (grey area) sexual violence, Feminist Media Studies, 20:5, 639-656, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2019.1606843
  • Bratich JZ. Trust No One (On the Internet): The CIA-Crack-Contra Conspiracy Theory and Professional Journalism. Television & New Media. 2004;5(2):109-139. doi:10.1177/1527476403255810
  • Nat Thorne, Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip, Walter Pierre Bouman, Ellen Marshall & Jon Arcelus (2019) The terminology of identities between, outside and beyond the gender binary – A systematic review, International Journal of Transgenderism, 20:2-3, 138-154, DOI: 1
  • Stehling, M., Vesnic-Alujevic, L., Jorge, A., & Marôpo, L. (2018). The Co-option of Audience Data and User-Generated Content: Empowerment and Exploitation Amidst Algorithms, Produsage and Crowdsourcing.
  • Mendes K., Ringrose J. (2019) Digital Feminist Activism: #MeToo and the Everyday Experiences of Challenging Rape Culture. In: Fileborn B., Loney-Howes R. (eds) #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/97
Teaching methods
lectures, class discussions, homework, readings
Assessment methods
compulsory attendance of seminars (80% attendance, 2 absences allowed);
quizzes (series of short |beforehand unannounced| quizzes covering the previous classes and readings);
multichoice test
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/CMA02