Spring 2009

MES 322K • MEDIA AND THE TRANSITION IN THE MIDDLE EAST-W

Course Description

This course builds from the fields of development communication, media and social change, and contemporary analyses of the Middle East, toward a consideration of how communication technologies are being used in strategic transition in the region. We will consider strategic transition in democratic, liberalization, and commercial reforms, in domestic, transnational, and new media systems. We will also address issues of cultural politics, in terms of how media may be defining communities, asserting identities, and representing social groups. We will conclude by exploring the role of media in political action, as a potential tool for negotiation or resistance. We will be taking a critical look at how media technologies are assumed to facilitate or impede political, economic, social and cultural transitions.

This course contains a substantial writing component and fulfills part of the basic education requirements in writing.

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