Category Archives: Readings for Undergraduates

Finding readings that speak to and engage undergraduates in critical issues in media studies can be tough. Here are readings that work particularly well in undergraduate classrooms, along with descriptions and information about the teaching contexts in which they were used.

A Decade Under the Influence: US Films of the 1970s

JCMS Teaching Dossier Vol 5 (2) Revisiting the Film History Survey Amelie Hastie, Amherst College The Context I teach in an interdepartmental Film and Media Studies (FAMS) program in a small liberal arts college. Our core Film and Media faculty … Continue reading

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Public education in cinema: Resistance pedagogies for student teachers

Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier Against the Global Right Vol 5 (1)  Nisha Thapliyal, University of Newcastle, Australia   I teach at a four-year undergraduate teacher education program in a regional Australian university, close to Sydney. The mission of our teacher education … Continue reading

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Teaching Irresponsibly and Uncomfortably: The Role of Theory in the Neoliberal University

 Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier   Critical Pedagogies in Neoliberal Times Vol 3 (2)  Hunter Hargraves  California State University, Fullerton   Over the last year, many online (and offline) spaces have taken up the question of trigger warnings – statements that prevent … Continue reading

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The Classroom as a Space of Resistance: Disrupting Neoliberal Politics through Critical Communication Pedagogy

   Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier   Critical Pedagogies in Neoliberal Times Vol. 3 (2)  David H. Kahl, Jr.   Penn State Erie, The Behrend College   Introduction   The university was once a space intended to be a bastion of unencumbered critical examination. … Continue reading

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“Talking About Whiteness”: Using Digital Pedagogy to Interrogate Racial Privilege

   Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier  Critical Pedagogies in Neoliberal Times Vol. 3 (2)  Shelleen Greene  University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee   In this essay, I argue that digital media production can help facilitate critical dialogues about racial privilege that move beyond … Continue reading

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Sound Studies in a Liberal Arts Curriculum

 Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier  Vol. 2(2) Spring 2014  Jay Beck  Carleton College     One of the difficulties of teaching Cinema and Media Studies in a liberal arts college is balancing student interest in production with the interdisciplinary focus of … Continue reading

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Understandably Critical (of Neoliberalism)

   Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier  Vol. 2(2) Spring 2014  Maurizio Viano  Wellesley College     The paradox in the images evoked by the first two bullets in this dossier’s call for proposals is so striking as to bear scrutiny: on … Continue reading

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Advertisers’ image of housewives’ leisure time: 1926 American Laundry Machinery Company ad campaign in The Saturday Evening Post

In his chapter “Advertising as Social Tableaux”, Roland Marchand discusses a 1926 American Laundry Machinery Company campaign in The Saturday Evening Post. Marchand uses the ads to illustrate advertisers’ presumptions about what housewives wanted to use their leisure time for. … Continue reading

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Teaching Hindi Film Song Sequences

 Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier  Vol. 1 (3) Fall 2013  Monika Mehta  Binghamton University, SUNY   Teaching Hindi Film Song Sequences Video Presentation In this video presentation, Monika Mehta explains how she uses paratexts to teach Bollywood song-and-dance sequences and includes a … Continue reading

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Group Television Pitches

I have my Introduction to Critical Media Studies students read “Consuming Race on Nickelodeon” by Sarah Banet-Weiser from her book Kids Rule!: Nickelodeon and Consumer Citizenship.  This reading is part of a broader unit that focuses on media culture, representation, … Continue reading

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