Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "CMS 310"
COURSE NAME: "Media and Cultural Analysis: Close Readings/Interpretations of Cultural Artifacts:Frantz Fanon in the Media"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2024

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Marie Moise
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: T 4:30 PM 7:15 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: EN 110 with a grade of C or above; COM 220 recommended
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
From Andre Bazin’s analysis of de Sica’s Bicycle Thieves to Roland Barthes’ interpretation of a photo of a black soldier on the cover of Paris Match magazine, close readings of media texts have long been a valued aspect of the field of communications. This course offers students the unique opportunity to critically analyze a single, notable media text—be it an album, a TV series, a graphic novel, etc.—and explore in detail the expressive significance, the artistic merit, the social impact and influence, the cultural embeddedness, and associated historical, technological and aesthetic considerations. The course will focus on some of the dominant critical perspectives that have contributed to our understanding of these media texts and their role in society, and investigate this media through a variety of theories and methods.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
What is the role of the media in the colonial construction of the racialized/colonized Other? How do racialized/colonized subjects relate to the media to contest their conditions of material and symbolic subalternity? What does it mean to decolonize media and their power of representation? The work of the Martinican psychiatrist, activist and philosopher Frantz Fanon - a primary reference in critical decolonial and race theories - offers a rich theoretical and practical toolbox to address these questions. The course provides an introduction to the work and thought of Frantz Fanon with a specific focus on his analyses of language, media representations, and the entanglement of racism, culture, and cultural artifacts, leading to their subversion from a decolonial perspective. The first part of the course will be focused on the relationship between media and coloniality, tracing real and virtual dialogues between Fanon and other critical thinkers on race. The second part will address Fanon's perspectives on decolonization of media tools and texts, both in the writings of the Martinican philosopher and in those inspired by him, by examining the past to understand the contemporary world.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

- Acquire an understanding of Fanonian critical theory on gender, race, and coloniality, and explore the role of media in historical and contemporary processes of decolonization.
- Attain mastery of race and gender theories to articulate critical analyses of the relationship between media and contemporary society.
- Engage with the course's conceptual framework as epistemological and methodological foundations for critical analysis, as well as for theoretical and practical reasoning concerning social and cultural transformations.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Format
Media culture and society: an introduction	Hudkinson Paul	Sage Publications	9781412920537	Hard Copy
Understanding everyday racism. An interdisciplinary Theory	Essed Philomena	Sage publications	9780803942561	Hard Copy
The threat of race. Reflections on Racial Neoliberalism	Goldberg David	Wiley-Blackweell	978-1-444-35664-9	Hard Copy
An Introduction to visual culture	Mirzoeff Nicholas	Routledge	9780415327596	Hard Copy
Race, nation and gender in modern Italy: intersectional représentations in Visual culture	Gaia Giuliani	Palgrave Macmillan	9781137509154	Hard Copy

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Comments
[Film] Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask	Isaac Julien	Bfi	[Film]	https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/search/detail/1050910018?queryString=Frantz%20Fanon%3A%20Black%20Skin%20White%20Mask&clusterResults=true&stickyFacetsChecked=true&groupVariantRecords=false
Get Out	Jordan Peele	Universal Pictures
Us	Jordan Peele	Monkeypaw Productions
Fanon hier, aujourd'hui	Hassan Mezine	Indipendent production
The Battle of Algiers	Gillo Pontecorvo	Casbah Film
The Agronomist	Jonathan Demme	THINKFilm

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Participation	Participation implies coming to class prepared to discuss the readings and to make contributions to class discussions.	20
Weekly reflections	Students are given weekly assignments, such as short reflections based on the specified readings or viewings	20
Outlines	One-page outlines for the final paper/project are required at least one week before the paper is due.	10
Final Paper/project	Students will submit an response paper based on the course's conceptual apparatus	40
Self-grading	Students are required to fill out a self-grading rubric and turn it in with their final assignments.	10

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY
Attendance is a prerequisite for fulfilling the learning outcomes. Excused absences caused by a serious impediment can be made up with a supplementary weekly assignment, to be discussed with the instructor.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Class 1

Introduction to the Course Topics - Frantz Fanon: A Biographical and Conceptual Overview.

Readings:

Lewis Gordon, What Fanon Said. A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought, Fordham University Press, 2015, Chapter 1

Watching:

Frantz Fanon. Black Skin White Mask by Isaac Julien, 1995

Class 2

“Showing a Tarzan Film in the Antilles” - Media, Racial Representations and the Epidermalization of Inferiority.

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, Pluto Press, 1967, Chapter 1 and 6
Chris Campbell, “Tarzan the Ape Man Screening ‘The Subordination of Women, Nature and Colonies’ in the 1930s”, in Atia, Holden (eds), Popular postcolonialisms, Routledge, 2018

Kara Keeling, “Frantz Fanon and the “Problems” of Visual Representation”, in Qui Parle, vol. 13, no. 2, 2003, pp. 91–117.

Class 3

“I Cannot Go to a Film Without Seeing Myself” - Cinema and White Gaze in Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks.

Readings:

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, Chapter 5
Lewis Gordin, What Fanon Said, Chapter 3
Stuart Hall, “After-life of Frantz Fanon : why Fanon? why now? why Black skin, white masks?” in A. Read (ed.), The Fact of Blackness : Frantz Fanon and Visual Representation, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1996, p. 12-37.

Watching:

Get Out by Jordan Peele, 2017

Class 4 “Good-man Banania” - Coloniality and Cultural Artifacts.

‘Eating the Other’, in Alison Harvey, Feminist Media Studies, Polity Press, 2019
Ella Shohat, Robert Stam, Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media, Routledge, New York 1994

Class 5

“Black soul is a white man’s artifact” - A Fanonian reading of Blackness in cultural industry

-Frantz Fanon, Racism and culture,

- Stuart Hall, What Is This 'Black' in Black Popular Culture?

- Stuart Hall, Cultural Identity and Cinematic Representation

Watching: Us by Jordan Peele, 2019

Class 6

Fanon, Cultural industry and Feminist critics

Readings:
- Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, Chapter 2

- Sharpley-Whiting, Fanon and Capécia, in Frantz Fanon Critical Perspectives

Class 7

Black Bodies as Media - Mid Term wrap up and discussion

Readings:Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks, Chapter 7

Armond R. Towns, “Toward a Black Media Philosophy”, Cultural Studies, 2020
Gloria Wekker, White Innocence. Paradoxes of Colonialism and Race,

Class 8

Mediatisation and Sexualisation of the Colonized Body. Hegemonic discourses

Readings:

- Frantz Fanon, Algeria unveiled

- Edward Said, Orientalism

- Robert Stam, Fanon, Algeria and the Cinema in Shohat, Stam, Multiculturalism, Postcoloniality, and Transnational Media

Watching:- The Battle of Algiers by Gillo Pontecorvo

Class 9

Mediatisation and Sexualisation of the Colonized Body. Counter-hegemonic discourses (Part 1)

- Frantz Fanon, Algeria unveiled

- Stuart Hall, Gramsci’s relevance for the study of race and ethnicity

- Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak?

- Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Under Western Eyes

Watching:

Gangubai Kathiawadi, Netflix, 2022

Class 10

Mediatisation and Sexualisation of the Colonized Body. Counter hegemonic discourses (part 2)

Readings:

- Frantz Fanon, Racism and Culture

- Agela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Introduction, Chapter 1 and 8

- bell hooks, The oppositional gaze. Black female spectators in bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation

Class 11

Challenging the Sexual/Colonial Power of Media

- Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Chapter 1

- Angela Davis, Women race and class, Chapter 11

- Butler, Endangering/endangered. Schematic Racism and White Paraonia

- Elsa Dorlin, Self Defence. A Philosophy of Violence, Introduction and Chapter 1

Class 12

Challenging the Racial/Colonial Power of Media - Radio, Anti-Colonial Struggle and political subjectivation

Frantz Fanon, This is the voice of Algeria (1959)
Sibertin-Blanc, The Politics of Voice
Frassinelli, Frantz Fanon, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and African media and communication studies in Mano, Milton (eds), Routledge Handbook of African Media and Communication Studies

Watching:

- The Agronomist by Jonathan Demme, 2003

Class 13

Healing from Coloniality: Fanon and Social/Media Therapy

Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, Chapter 4
Fanon Frantz, Our journal, in Khalfa Jean, Young Robert J.C. (eds) Alienation and Freedom, Bloomsbury, 2018.

Jean Khalfa, Socialtherapy and Culture, in Fanon and Psychiatry

Class 14

Wrap up and final discussion

Watching :

Fanon Yesterday, Today, by Hassane Medine, 2019