Communication and Culture Undergraduate Program

The communication and culture major is designed to engage students in focused inquiry into the cultural foundations of communication in its various forms. As a liberal-arts major, the program of study emphasizes the development of a conceptual framework for understanding the role of communication in both transmitting and creating culture through practices of verbal and nonverbal communication. Through an interdisciplinary approach involving faculty from different fields of expertise in the humanities and social sciences, students study media, discourse and global influences and developments in communication. The curriculum covers historical and current topics, and the range of communicative forms considered includes visual and graphic images, everyday discourse, literary works, journalistic writing, music and material productions. Although not a production-oriented or preprofessional major, students have opportunities for practicum and internship learning. The faculty is committed to providing the type of sound critical and conceptual grasp of communication that is essential for intelligent participation and leadership in the various fields of communication.

For details regarding the major, students should consult the Majors’ Handbook, which is available online, in the Communication and Culture Program Office, and at the Academic Advising Center.

The major is organized into three paths of emphasis: (1) media dimensions, (2) discourse dimensions and (3) global dimensions, which includes courses in both media and discourse studies that emphasize some aspect of global communication. With the exception of the introductory course (COMM101), most courses are cross-referenced with the departments in which they originate.

Courses
(Click on "Title of Course" or "Course Number" to sort by that category)

Title of Course	Course Number
From the Stone Age to Our Age: Monuments and Masterpieces of Western Art/Lecture, Discussion	ARTH010
Latin-American Art/Lecture, Discussion	ARTH159
Architecture and Democracy/Seminar	ARTH216
Design in the 20th Century: Arts & Crafts to Ikea/Lecture, Discussion	ARTH243
Urban Art and Society in Jazz Age New York/Seminar	ARTH245
Intermediate Photography/Studio, Lecture, Discussion	ARTS121
Graphic Design Projects/Studio, Lecture, Discussion	ARTS125
Typography	ARTS208
Introduction to Interactive Design	ARTS209
Photography Studio	ARTS250
Graphic Design Studio	ARTS254
Fictions of Asian America/Seminar	AS279
The National Imagination	CMLT130
Cool/First-Year Seminar	COMM040
Communication and Culture in Main South/First-Year Seminar	COMM050
Computers In Our World/Lecture, Laboratory	COMM099
Communication and Culture	COMM101
Foundations of Screen Studies	COMM103
American Sign Language I	COMM110
American Sign Language II	COMM111
Popular Culture in France	COMM124
History of International Cinema Since 1960	COMM126
Effects of Mass Media [Formerly Soc 273]	COMM136
Experimental Video Production	COMM145
Recording Practice and Audio Art/Seminar	COMM146
Discourse and Cultural Studies/Field Research	COMM150
Cultural Psychology/Lecture, Discussion	COMM156
Immigration in France/Lecture, Discussion	COMM166
Image Theory	COMM168
Computer Mediated Communication	COMM170
Strategic Speaking/Workshop	COMM196
Music, Media & Public Spheres	COMM201
Writing for Magazines/Seminar	COMM204
American Consumer Culture/Seminar	COMM211
Social Problems: Claims Making, Media and Construction	COMM213
Language and Culture in the United States/Lecture, Discussion	COMM215
Science Fiction Film: City of the Future	COMM219
Communication Ethics	COMM220
Media Policy and Democracy	COMM221
World Cinema and Global Culture	COMM224
Special Topics: Renaissance and Baroque Art/Seminar	COMM239
Global Communication and the Spaces of Cultural Production	COMM246
Signs and Crossroads: Semiotic Theory and Practice/Seminar	COMM248
German Film and the Frankfurt School	COMM249
Cultural Discourses of Advertising/Seminar	COMM252
Futuring the News/Seminar	COMM259
Studies In French Cinema	COMM263
Global Television	COMM264
Ethnic America: Literary and Theoretical Perspectives/Seminar	COMM272
Contemporary British Literature and Culture	COMM273
Culture, Consumption and Class in Local and Global Contexts/Lecture, Discussion	COMM275
Advanced Topics in Cultural Psychology/Capstone Seminar	COMM276
Capstone Course	COMM291
Gender and Discourse/Seminar	COMM295
Capstone Course	COMM296
Transformative Schooling: Documentary Video for Social Change/First-Year Seminar	EDUC112
American Talk/First-Year Seminar	ENG114
Feature Writing/Workshop	ENG202
Culture and the News/Lecture, Discussion	ENG205
Language at Issue/Seminar	ENG257
History of the English Language/ Seminar	ENG294
Media Workshop in French	FREN127
Studies in Contemporary French Culture	FREN137
Francophone Literature and Film	FREN140
Culture, Place and the Environment/ Lecture	GEOG017
Gender and Environment/Lecture, Discussion	GEOG136
Internet Geography: Socioeconomic Impacts of Information Technologies/Lecture, Discussion	GEOG257
The Total Work of Art and Cultural Criticism from Wagner to the Present/Seminar	GERM205
Roots and Routes: Immigrants, Diasporas and Travel/Lecture, Discussion	ID261
Pop Music in the USA/Lecture, Discussion	MUSC012
Music and Modernism in Society, 1885-1945/ Lecture, Discussion	MUSC104
Soundtracks/Lecture	MUSC160
Audio Culture	MUSC200
Seminar in Music History and Criticism	MUSC210
Philosophy of Language/Lecture, Discussion	PHIL242
Cultural Psychology of Urban Living/ Lecture, Discussion	PSYC157
Discourse, Self and Feeling/First-Year Seminar	PSYC193
Theoretical Models of Communication in Psychology/First Seminar	PSYC247
Language Development/First Seminar	PSYC251
History of American Broadcasting and Electronic Media	SCRN122
Factual Film and Televison	SCRN123
Social and Cultural Issue Documentary Production	SCRN214
Images of Youth	SCRN230
Critical Perspectives on Television	SCRN261
Film as Narration	SCRN284
Gender and Film	SCRN288
Global Cultures and Identities/Lecture, Discussion	SOC160
Meaning, Politics and Difference: Sociology of Culture/Lecture, Discussion	SOC231
The Creation of Nationalism, Nationalist Cultures and Symbols/Lecture, Discussion	SOC255
Global Ethnographies: Ethnographers in the Making for the 21st Century/Seminar	SOC294
Studies in Hispanic Culture/Lecture, Discussion	SPAN133
Latino Literature and Media Arts	SPAN134
Actor as Thinker/Studio, Lecture, Discussion	TA212