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Course Criteria
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4.00 Credits
This course surveys the political, economic, and cultural development of the peoples of the ancient Greek world from the late Bronze Age through the Hellenistic era. Students will hone their critical thinking skills while working with translations of ancient literature, archaeological remains and works of art. The basic structure of the course is chronological, but we will examine major themes across time and space, which may include the interaction between physical landscape and historical change; rule by the one, the few and the many; the nature and development of literary and artistic genres; the economic, military, and/or cultural dimensions of empire; or the intersections of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, slave/free status and civic identity in the Greek world. Alternate years. (4 credits)
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4.00 Credits
This course introduces students to the Roman world, which at its height stretched from Britain to Iran, from Germany to Africa, and lasted well over a thousand years. Students will develop critical thinking skills while working with Roman literature in translation, art, architecture and other archaeological remains. The structure of the course is chronological, but we will examine major themes across time and space, which may include the development of Roman literature out of and in response to Greek culture; the effects of the civil wars and the resulting political change from a republic to a monarchy; the cultural, religious and/or military aspects of the Roman empire and its immediate aftermath; Roman conceptions of gender, sexuality, slave and free status, citizenship and/or ethnicity, and how these social categories were used to legitimize or exercise power. Alternate years. (4 credits)
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4.00 Credits
This course is an analysis of the major forces that determine media production and distribution. Topics include the political economy of media, ownership and government regulation, systems of power within media organizations, and the influence of advertisers on news and programming practices as well as on media access and diversity. Students will examine contemporary commercial media practices and structures in light of comparative, historical, and potential alternatives. Every year. (4 credits)
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4.00 Credits
This course explores the nature of visual representation, building from a focus on the formal analysis of cinema (the basic features of film form and style) and developing tools of visual textual analysis applicable to all visual media (photography, television, digital and graphic representations of all kinds). We start by concentrating on the basic features of cinematic form: narrative and non-narrative structure, the shot, editing, sound, and the construction of film style. Students will gain a familiarity with cinematic elements and vocabulary, and practice in formalist critical analysis. Students will also make an abstract video. Following an introduction to cultural studies, we will apply the tools and insights of film analysis to various studies of visual representation, in film and other forms of visual culture, including: television, photography, journalism, advertising, and art. The primary goal of the course is to develop a set of analytical tools that can be used to illuminate all forms of visual representation and their aesthetic, cultural, and social implications. Every semester. (4 credits)
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4.00 Credits
This course studies the interaction of Jewish, Christian, and pagan cultures, and the protracted struggle for selfdefinition and multi-cultural exchange this encounter provoked. The course draws attention to how the other and cultural and religious difference are construed, resisted, and apprehended. Readings include Acts, Philo, Revelation, I Clement, pagan charges against Christianity, Adversus Ioudaios writers, the Goyim in the Mishna, and apologetic literature. Alternate years. (4 credits)
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4.00 Credits
Global media is the world's most influential "consciousness industry." As such, the way it is organized vitallimpacts global views. How is global media organized, who owns it, and how has it transformed When did a "global media system" emerge, and where is it heading In this course, we will investigate the historical andcontemporary struggles by various groups to determine the course of globalization, particularly through media, and consider contesting paradigms that have been offered. Next offered 2008-2009. (4 credits)
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4.00 Credits
This course focuses on the rich political possibilities of video as intervention, propaganda, prank, advocacy, technique, educational tool, act of witness, subversive art practice, legal or physical defense strategy, etc. We will examine the politics of access, alternative and underground means of production and distribution, and strategies for collective process. The course will trace a history of radical video, from the initial use of the Porta Pak in the 1960s through the development of video collectives, the establishment of public access television, AIDS activist video, indigenous cultural preservation efforts, culture jamming and tactical media actions, and recent web & cell developments. Coursework will include screenings, readings, writing, in-class presentations, and critique. There will be various class trips to community video organizations in the Twin Cities, and individual students are expected to undertake significant research in an issue of their choice. Every year. (4 credits)
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2.00 Credits
This practicum focuses on video production in the context of activist video and tactical media. Through exercises, group and individual video production projects, critique, and community involvement, we will investigate strategies for politically motivated media production. Basic video shooting, lighting, sound recording and editing will be taught, with an emphasis on sharpening criticality and utilizing technology for maximum political or social efficacy. As their final projects, students will choose a political or social issue at any scale of local to global, and employ video as an activist strategy. No production experience is necessary. Every year. (2 credits)
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4.00 Credits
This course will integrate history, theory, and practice in a critical examination of experimental and artists' video as an art form, political tool, and social process. The course will be structured around various key issues, including portraiture and autobiography, appropriation and collage, assertions or representations of identity, the presence of the maker and reflexivity, and conceptual, feminist, performative, and structuralist approaches. Art video's relationships to experimental film, gallery and museum exhibition, and television will be considered. Coursework will include readings, screenings, writing, critique, and visual analysis. Video installation and other work not available in the classroom will be viewed in gallery and museum contexts around the Twin Cities. Every year. (4 credits)
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2.00 Credits
This practicum class focuses on video production in the context of artists' and experimental video. Through individual video production projects and extensive critique, students will develop their own individual media production process. Basic video shooting, lighting, sound recording, and editing will be taught, with the emphasis being on developing aesthetic, analytic, critical and conceptual acuity through an integration of practice and theory. No production experience is necessary. Every year. (2 credits)
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