Identity in Global Village: power of media discourse

elective courses

(in Polish) Znajomość języka angielsiego na poziomie B1

This course will be focused on the role of media discourse in identity construction process. Therefore, two essential notions for this topic will be studied: identity and media discourse. The course will introduce the studies of identity and different approaches on it. Main accent will be done on discursive construction of national identity, especially in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. To understand properly the significance of the media discourse in identity process, the course also presents basic knowledge in the methodology of media analysis and analysis of the discourse. The course will offer the introduction to quantitative and qualitative methods of textual analysis such as contents analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis.

Media holders, media producers and media outlets became the new sources of power – the power of communication. As Marshal McLuhan rightly admitted, due to media the world turned into Global Village, therefore it is hard to hide something. However, there are some sort of hidden things in media – the ones which are not on the surface, they are implicit. The thing is about media power relations, which according to Norman Fairclough, are mediated relations between power-holders and the mass of the populations. Identity making process is also sort of power-relations. These sorts of power are hidden power. Media play the role of a constructor and mediator of a meanings. It also refers to different kinds of identity – from personal identity to national identity. To disclose this hidden power we need to know how to read the body of the media text.

This course will be focused on the role of the media discourse in the identity construction process. Therefore, two essential notions for this topic will be studied: identity and media discourse. The course will introduce the studies of identity and different approaches on it, alongside the studies of media and how they influences the society.

To understand properly the significance of the media discourse in identity process, the course also offers basic knowledge in the methodology of media analysis and analysis of the discourse. The course will offer the introduction to quantitative and qualitative methods of textual analysis such as contents analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis. During the course students will analyze contemporary social processes, identity construction process in media discourse, especially in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Therefore, course offers practical skills of textual analysis using the above-mentioned methodology.

The course will be organized in the form of the structural conversations to enable the fruitful communication of the lecturer and the students. Lecturer will present the didactic material, and give the assignments to the students for the next meeting. For the first half of the course period students and lecture discuss the theoretical aspects of the issues launched in the course. Starting from the second half of the course for every next lecture students receive small piece of the text to analyze and present their work. At the end of the course students prepare final paper.

Final grade depends on:

- Presence on the lectures

- Activity during the lectures

- Written assignments

- Final paper

Ostateczną lekturę ustalimy ze studentami. Literatura zalecana:

Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. London: Verso, 1991.

Barth, Frederik, Introduction to Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference, edited by Frederik Barth, 9-38. Longe Grove: Waveland Press, 1998.

Blommaert, Jan, Discourse. Cambrige: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Bokszański, Zbigniew, Tożsamości zbiorowe. Warszawa: PWN, 2008.

Castells, Manuel, The Power of Identity. The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. Volume II, 2nd edition. Malden-Oxford: Willey-Blackwell, 2010.

Dijk, Teun van A., „The Study of Discourse”, in: Discourse as a Structure and Process, edited by Teun A. van Dijk, 1-34. London-Thousand Oaks-New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1997.

Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah and Bernhard Giesen, „The Construction of Collective Identity”, Archives Europeennes de Sociologie 36 (1) (1995): 72-102.

Fairclough, Norman, Language and Power. Harlow: Longman, 2001.

Fairclough, Norman, Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London - New York: Routledge, 2003.

Greenfeld, Liah, The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Gunter, Barrie, “The Quantitative Research Process”, in: A Handbook of Media and Communication Research. Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies, edited by Klaus Bruhn Jensen, 209-234. London-New York: Routledge, 2002.

Laclau, Ernesto and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso, 1985.

Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1980.

Leeuwen, Theo, van. “The Representation of Social Actors”, in: Texts and Practices. Readings in Critical Discourse Analysis, edited by Carmen Rosa Caldas-Coulthard and Malcolm Coulthard, 32-70. London-New York: Routledge, 1996.

McLuhan, Marshal, Understanding Media. The Extensions of Man, London–New York: Routledge Classics, 2002.

McQuail, Denis, McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, 5th edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2007.

Ścigaj, Paweł, Tożsamość narodowa. Zarys problematyki. Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka, 2012.

Skarga, Barbara, Tożsamość i różnica: eseje metafizyczne. Kraków: Znak, 2009.

Smith, Anthony, The Ethnic Origins of Nations. Oxford-Cambridge: Blackwell, 1986.

Smith, Anthony, National Identity. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1991.

Taylor, Charles, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. 10th printing. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2001.

Taylor, Gary and Steve Spencer, Social Identities: Multidisciplinary Approaches. London: Routledge, 2004.

Wodak, Ruth, de Cillia, Rudolf, Reisigl, Martin and Karin Liebhart, The Discursive Construction of National Identity. 2nd Edition, translated by Angelika Hirsch, Richard Mitten, and J. W. Unger. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.

Student obtains theoretical knowledge about the notion of identity in humanities and social sciences with a special emphasis on collective identity. Is able to make a difference between different approaches to identity studies such as national identity in the perspective of the “long-lasting” nation, national identity in culturalist approach, constructivist approach in the study of identity, etc. Student also has the knowledge of what is the discourse and in particular media discourse. Student knows what are the media effects on identity construction process.

Students knows main methods of textual analysis and is able to conduct Critical Discourse Analysis of the text by him/herself.

In the effect, student knows how to discern identity issues in the body of the media text.

Final grade depends on:

- Presence on the lectures

- Activity during the lectures

- Written assignments

- Final paper