COMM 444 - Re-Thinking Identity and Difference

Units: 4
Students examine and re-think the shaping of identity and difference in communication and media. How might we give meaningful voice to varied, complex global identities? Emphasis varies each semester, topics include but are not limited to gender, race/ethnicity, disability.

Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online-Asynchronous, or Online-Synchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Course Typically Offered: Fall & Spring

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Research and evaluate the current state of socio-political discourses of difference in a specific social media group, by monitoring and noting how discourses are constructed in response to specific identities and issues.
Conduct secondary academic research to understand of how current online socio-political discourses may promote oppressive, divisive ideologies.
Interrogate issues and concepts such as difference, propaganda, ideology, the alt-right, post-truth, alternative facts, fake news, hegemony, opposition, and virtual community.
Conduct primary internet research to better understand how oppressive discourses are maintained, seeking to understand how to counteract social media propaganda and bring rigorous objectivity to social-media discourse.