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01-23, 2011

MA in MEDIA AND CULTURAL ANALYSIS THE POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION

Introduction

Welcome to the module on the politics of representation. This module introduces you to the wide range of issues involved in media representations of social and cultural ‘difference’, and the ‘us’/’them’ divisions they entail. The module is concerned broadly with cultural stereotypes and the construction of stereotypical Others.

We shall begin with the concept of representation and the ways in which cultural representations are implicated in structures of inequality, power and control as well as in different perspectives, outlooks and conceptions. We shall then move on to the concept of the stereotype. This is in some ways quite a muddled concept, and it pays to look at the way it has been developed and used. We shall concentrate on the two main areas in which it has had a high level of currency – social psychology and media studies – with a view to distinguishing between its different application in these two areas. Both these applications derive in the first place from the concept’s initial formulation by the American political writer and commentator, Walter Lippmann, in the early 1920s. As well as tracing the career of the concept of the stereotype, we shall align it with the related concept of the Other. This has a longer history, having in some ways been initially mapped out by Hegel in an influential treatment of the questions of recognition, subjugation and domination, but it is only fairly recently that it has become a key critical concept in the social sciences. This is partly because of the interest of second wave feminism in the concept, with various contradictory stereotypes following from the basic conception of ‘woman’ as the lesser Other of ‘man’. Colonial stereotypes are one example of the conflation or intermingling of gendered and racialised constructs of the Other.

One of the distinguishing features of the module is its historical dimension. Most of the analytical treatments of stereotyping in both social psychology and media studies concentrate on stereotypes and stereotyping processes in the immediate present. They have little or no conception of how stereotypes have developed historically and been adapted to changing historical circumstances. It is as though racial or national stereotypes have arisen like ideological jack-in-the-boxes out of a historical vacuum. The module seeks to overcome this limitation by dealing with the longevity of certain stereotypes, and situating them in relation to the historical development of nationalism, imperialism and racism. Ideas about empire, ‘race’, and national character and identity, found their most influential expressions in popular culture, and we shall look at various examples of such representations around the middle section of the module. These include the stereotypical associations arising from, and apparently confirmed by, the cartographical arrangements of geographical space, with their division of the world into different sectors and scalings of civilisation, global importance, cultural valuation and political danger. We shall examine in particular the ‘us’/’them’ distinctions and alterities associated with nationalism, racism and imperialism, Orientalism and Occidentalism, migration and transnational population flows.#p#分頁標題#e#

All of these have been, and in various ways continue to be, potent sources of stereotypes. For example, in the past ten years global migration flows have become, once again, a major site in the stereotyping of foreigners. Such stereotyping is also associated with ‘folk devils’ and ‘moral panics’. As well as examining migrants as an object of moral panic, we shall look substantively at what these twinned concepts involve and the various problems they entail. One such problem is their serial recurrence, which is again where historical understanding is important. This is just as true of their pressing social relevance, for it makes their attendant media representations appear to have an insistent bearing only in the context of the latest splash headline. Such representations require a broad historical contextualisation not only in relation to their development over time, but also in their connections with longer-term patterns of inequality, order and power. It is in these connections that the legitimation of prejudice, censure and punitive treatment is so often rooted.

Overall, the module will provide you with various analytical tools for unpacking and deconstructing representational practices, and introduce you to the various work on stereotyping and Otherness in such fields as media sociology, cultural studies, and post-colonial studies. It will help you to acquire a historical knowledge of representations of forms of ‘difference’ in relation to nationalism, racism and imperialism, social and political issues, metropolitan urban cultures, migration and questions of political asylum. These are the main areas we shall investigate.

The compulsary text for this module is Michael Pickering (2001) Stereotyping: The Politics of Representation, Palgrave. You will find copies of this in Blackwells, the University Bookshop, which is located in the Students Union building. This text has relevance to most of the teaching sessions on the module, but each topic is supplemented by other references and these are set out in the reading list. You will find that most of these have been placed in the Short Loan collection in the library, so please plan ahead by setting aside time in which you can cover the cited reading on a week-by-week basis.

Assessment for the module is by coursework assignment only, and is based on two assignments, a short essay of 1000 words to be handed in roughly halfway through the module, and a longer essay of 3000 words to be handed in after completion of the module. You will find further details about these assignments set out below.

Summary of Programme

Week 1 The Concept of Representation (MP)

Week 2 Prejudice and Bigotry (MP)

Week 3 Representing the Other – Stereotyping (MP)

Week 4 Representing ‘Us’ – Nationalism (SM)

Week 5 Representing ‘Them’ – Racism and Imperialism (MP)

Week 6 Representing the East – Orientalism (MP)

Week 7 Reacting to the Stigma – Occidentalism (SM)#p#分頁標題#e#

Week 8 Representing Migration (SM)

Week 9 Representing Deviance (MP)

Week 10 Drop-in Session.

Suggested reading for each of these sessions follows below. The reading is meant as preparation for the topics covered in each session in question, but you should expand out from this, particularly in relation to your choice of coursework assignment for the longer essay. This will probably relate to an aspect of the module in which you have a special interest. Please see the appropriate tutor if you require any assistance on material relating to a specific area of interest.

Assignment Questions

The first assignment is based on the analysis of stereotyping in a recent newspaper story. The deadline for this piece of coursework is Thursday 19th February 2009 at 4 pm. For this assignment, you should choose a recent newspaper story from a printed source, not an online source. Your choice will be determined by the presence of a particular stereotype in the story. You will then need to analyse how this particular stereotype is constructed in the story – how is it set up and deployed, what are its constitutive features, how is it put into operation in the narrative, and so on? You should analyse the news story in its combination of different elements, such as headline, lead paragraphs, accompanying images and so on. You will find a step-by-step guide to this in David Deacon, Michael Pickering, Peter Golding and Graham Murdock, Researching Communications: A Practical Guide to Media and Cultural Analysis, London and New York: Hodder Arnold, 2007, pp. 170-86. As well as taking you through the stages of news text analysis, the book provides you with an example of how these stages are operationalised by taking a news story from the late 1950s involving an assassination attempt on the then President of Iraq, General Abdul Kassem. The story involved Orientalist stereotyping and so is a good one to look at in relation to this assignment. You can choose a story from whatever newspaper you like, tabloid or broadsheet, but please include either the whole story or a photocopy of it as an appendix to your assignment. This assignment is a short one and should be around 1000 words only, or approximately 3-4 pages of standard A4 paper typed with 1.5 spacing. It will count for 25% of your total mark for the module. Please post your essay through the letterbox into the clerical office on the 4th floor of the Brockington Building.

The second assignment is a longer piece of coursework. This is due to be handed in on Thursday 7th May 2009 at 4pm – again by posting your essay in the usual way. It counts for the remaining 75% of your total mark on the module. In this longer essay, you have the opportunity to specialise in an area of media and cultural representation that particularly interests you. You may also have an eye on this area as a possible topic for your dissertation, so the assignment will enable you to rehearse certain ideas or try out your hand at the analysis of a certain set of stereotypical images and ideas.#p#分頁標題#e#

For the second assignment, please choose ONE of the following questions:

Compare and contrast at least two different approaches to the concept of stereotyping.
In what ways can the concept of the Other be used in analysing media constructions of social contamination and threat?
Do the mass media contribute to the exclusion of immigrants?
4 Are modern British media nationalist?
5 Taking examples of both positive and negative racial stereotypes, discuss how they relate to the identity of those who use and reproduce them.
Discuss the role of stereotypes in cultural representations of the Orient.
How did imperialist values inform the ways in which the colonial Other was viewed?
Assess the value of the concept of moral panic, using relevant examples of your own choice.
What is the relationship between Occidentalism and Orientalism?

A few points about your coursework. Regardless of which assignment you choose, you should use particular examples taken from whatever source seems relevant to you. Do not go beyond the allotted word-length of 3000 words, and unless there is good reason, please word-process your essay. The essay should be fully referenced and accompanied by a complete bibliography – see the Programme Handbook for guidance on referencing and other house-rules. Submission of coursework by post, fax or email is not accepted. It is regarded as good practice in the Department of Social Sciences for you to keep a copy of your coursework, and handing essays in on time and in the form required is part of the assessment. Any extensions to the deadline will be granted only for valid reasons such as illness, accident or other unforeseen circumstances and should be arranged with me in advance. You should also note that plagiarism is not tolerated, and you’re asked on the hand-in form to confirm that the assignment is your own work. If any part of your essay is found to be copied from another student or copied from a book or article without due acknowledgement and proper referencing, a mark of zero will be recorded. University regulations on misconduct allow for the reduction of any or all of your marks in any or all of your modules.

All marked coursework will be returned with a feedback sheet that will appraise your essay under the following criteria:
Structure and clarity: Is the essay logically organised with a coherent argument?
Analysis: Does the essay address various views in a critical fashion?
Relevance: Does the essay answer the question?
Understanding: Does the essay express your own grasp of the subject?
Evidence: Is the essay informed by relevant reading and illustrated by primary material? Is evidence used accurately, critically and effectively?
Presentation: Is the essay legible, grammatical and fluent?
References: Are sources cited fully? Is a properly annotated bibliography attached?
General comments.
The marked essay will be given a grade within the range of A+ (excellent first class essay) to F- (extremely poor fail). The grade Z (0%) will be given to those who fail to submit or who don’t make an adequate attempt to answer. These coursework marks are provisional until they have been confirmed at the end of the semester by the External Examiner and the Board of Examiners.#p#分頁標題#e#

Guidance on Private Study

Here is some advice on how you might spend your time in private study for this module:

Further reading: using the reading list selectively will help you not only to deepen your understanding of key issues, but also will allow you to see where and how some of those issues may be interlinked. This will improve your ability to write critically and analytically.

Preparation for class: prior to attending teaching sessions you should read the material that is set out under the heading Lecture Reading. You should read and take notes from relevant texts cited in the reading list (or use material you have found yourself) so that you can make an informed contribution to the seminar discussion. In thinking ahead to this, make a note of questions you may wish to raise or clarification you may require from the tutor.

Finding your own sources: no reading list can be exhaustive and there is always scope to use material gained from other sources. This is especially true of coursework assignments. Along with books on particular topics in the library, the most likely sources of relevant information, which you can locate for yourself, are to be found on the Internet, in newspapers and in academic journals.

Essay preparation: you should spend time not only in reading texts and taking notes, but also in planning the structure and development of your essays so that the final product is coherent, well-argued, critical and analytical, and soundly organised.

This kind of private study will not only help you to get the most out of the module, but also enable you to get better marks for essays. Remember that essays which largely repeat lecture and handout material and contain little by way of evidence of substantial additional reading and preparation will generally receive low marks.

Finally, if you have any difficulties with the reading or the two assignments, do please see me or any of the other tutors teaching this module and we will do what we can to help. I hope you enjoy the module and find that it helps you understand your way around one of the key areas in media and cultural analysis.

Michael Pickering,
January 2009.

THE POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION: MODULE PROGRAMME AND
READING LIST

1. The Concept of Representation

This initial session will look at different approaches to the question of representation, and the various conceptual and theoretical implications that are involved.

Lecture reading

Stuart Hall (1997) ‘The Work of Representation’ in Hall, S. ed. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, Sage/Open University.
Christine Geraghty (2000) ‘Representation and Popular Culture’ in James Curran and Michael Gurevitch, eds. Mass Media and Society, London: Arnold, chapter 18.
Myra Macdonald (2003) Exploring Media Discourse, London: Arnold, chapters 1 and 2.
Judy Giles and Tim Middleton (1999) Studying Culture, Blackwell, chapter 3#p#分頁標題#e#

Eoin Devereux (2003) Understanding the Media, London: Arnold, chapter 6.

Prejudice and Bigotry

In the second session we shall concentrate on two aspects of the politics of representation: the relations of representation and structures of power and control; and the questions of prejudice, bigotry and intolerance.

Lecture reading

Paul Gilroy (1996) The Black Atlantic, London and New York: Verso, chapters 1 and 2.
Stephen Riggins (1997) The Language and Politics of Exclusion, Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage, chapters 1, 2 and 7.
Oscar Gandy (1998) Communication and Race, London, Sydney and Auckland: Arnold, chapter 4.
Craig Calhoun (1995) Critical Social Theory, Oxford, UK and Cambridge, USA: Blackwell, chapter 7.
Nancy Fraser (2000) ‘Rethinking Recognition’, New Left Review, 3, pp. 107-20.
Kelly Oliver (2001) Witnessing: Beyond Recognition, Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, chapters 1, 2 and 3.
Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies (2002) Why Do People Hate America? Cambridge: Icon Books, chapters 2, 4 and 7.
David Chaney (1994) The Cultural Turn, London and New York: Routledge, chapter 3.

Representing the Other - Stereotyping

The purpose of this session is to examine the related concepts of stereotyping and Otherness. We shall look at how these concepts have developed and how they have been applied, and then go on to consider how stereotypical projections inform the identities of those involved in their distribution and reproduction.

Lecture reading

Michael Pickering (2001) Stereotyping; The Politics of Representation, Basingstoke and London: Palgrave Macmillan, chapters 1-3.
Sander Gilman (1985) Difference and Pathology, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, chapter 1.
John R. Hall et al. (2003) Sociology on Culture, London and New York: Routledge, chapter 4.
MacDonald, M. (1993) ‘The Construction of Difference: An Anthropological Approach to Stereotypes’ in MacDonald, M. ed. Inside European Identities, Providence: Berg.
Teresa Perkins (1979) ‘Rethinking Stereotypes’ in Michele Barrett et al eds. Ideology and Cultural Production, London: Croom Helm.
Homi Bhabha (1994) The Location of Culture, London and New York: Routledge, chapters 3, 4 and 5.
Robert Ferguson (1998) Representing ‘Race’, London and New York: Arnold, chapter 3.

Further reading

Perry Hinton (2000) Stereotypes, Cognition and Culture, Hove: Psychology Press, chapters 1, 2, 3 and 7.#p#分頁標題#e#
Michael L. Hecht ed. (1998) Communicating Prejudice, Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage.
Gordon Allport (1954) The Nature of Prejudice, Cambridge, MA: Addison Wesley, especially chapter 12.
Ramaswami Harindranath (2006) Perspectives on Global Cultures, Maidenhead and New York: Open University Press, chapters 2 and 3.
Kathryn Woodward (1997) ‘Concepts of Identity and Difference’ in Woodward ed. Identity and Difference, Sage/Open University.

4. Representing ‘Us’ – Nationalism

The aim of this session is to examine the habit of thinking about humanity as divided into nations, and taking nationality as one of the central features of identity. We shall look at the assumptions underlying this habit and become aware of how it structures the common-sense perception of a range of spheres of human life from language to economy. Furthermore, we shall explore its historical rise and various factors that have contributed to it, paying particular attention to the role of media and communications.

Lecture reading:

Anderson, Benedict (1991 [1983]) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, 2nd edition, London: Verso. (chapters 1-3)
Billig, Michael (1995) Banal Nationalism, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: Sage Publications. (chapters 1-3)
Brubaker, Rogers (2004) Ethnicity without Groups, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Gellner, Ernest, and Anthony Smith (1996 1995) ‘The Warwick Debates on Nationalism’, Nations and Nationalism 2 (3): 357-370. Online at http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/gellner/Warwick0.html
Pickering, Michael (2001) Stereotyping: The Politics of Representation, Basington and London: Palgrave. (chapter 4)
Özk?r?ml?, Umut (2000) Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Schlesinger, Philip (2000) ‘Nation and communicative space’, pp. 99-115 In Tumber, H. (ed.) Media Power, Professionals and Policy. London and New York: Routledge.

Further reading

Stuart Hall (1981) ‘The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media’ in Bridges, G. and Brunt, R. eds. Silver Linings, London: Lawrence & Wishart.
Stuart Hall (1997) ‘The Spectacle of the “Other”’ in Hall, S. ed. Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, Sage/Open University.
John M. MacKenzie (1984) Propaganda and Empire, Manchester: Manchester University Press, chapters 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8.
Ella Shohat and Robert Stam (1994) Unthinking Eurocentrism, London and New York: Routledge, chapters 3, 4 and 5.
Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, The Empire Strikes Back, London: Hutchinson, chapters 2 and 3.
Claire Midgley, ed. (1998) Gender and Imperialism, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.
Patrick Brantlinger (1985) ‘Victorians and Africans: The Genealogy of the Myth of the Dark Continent’, Critical Inquiry, 12: 1, Autumn, pp. 166-203.
Patricia Lorcin ( 1995) Imperial Identities: Stereotyping, Prejudice and Race in Colonial Algeria, London: I.B. Tauris.#p#分頁標題#e#
Lisa Lowe (1991) Critical Terrains: French and British Orientalisms, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Donald Bogle (1997) Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, New York: Continuum, chapter 1.
Richard Dyer (1987) Heavenly Bodies, Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, chapter 2 on Paul Robeson.

6. Representing the East – Orientalism

Representations of the East have long been mediated by Orientalism. Orientalism is a form of knowledgeable ignorance. The term is used to refer to the discourse and representation of the East by the West as it has been built up over the centuries and continues to circulate in the form of popular stereotypes, whether these are of Muslims or Hindus, Japanese or Chinese, or whatever. The key text in critiques of Orientalism remains Edward Said’s. As well as examining this text, we shall consider some of the main issues arising from the field that has developed out of Said’s work – that of postcolonial studies, and the cultural analysis of colonial discourses which is central to it.

Lecture reading

Michael Pickering (2001) Stereotyping; The Politics of Representation, Basingstoke and London: Palgrave, chapter 6.
Edward Said (1978) Orientalism, London: Penguin Books, chapter 1.
Ziauddin Sardar (1999) Orientalism, Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press, chapter 1, 3, 4 and 5.
Bart Moore-Gilbert (1997) Postcolonial Theory, London and New York: Verso, especially chapters 2, 3 and 4.
Robert Young (1990) White Mythologies, London and New York: Routledge, chapters 7, 8 and 9, or for alternative summaries of the work of Said, Bhabha and Spivak, see Peter Childs and Patrick Williams (1997) An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theory, London and New York: Prentice Hall/Harvester Wheatsheaf, chapter 3, 4 and 5.
Qing Cao (2007) ‘Western Representations of the Other’ in Shi-xu ed. Discourse as Cultural Struggle, Hong Kong: HK University Press, pp. 105-122.

Further reading

John E. Richardson (2004) (Mis)representing Islam, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, chapter 1.
Ania Loomba (1998) Colonialism/Postcolonialism, London and New York: Routledge.
Edward Said (1994) Culture and Imperialism, London: Vintage, chapter 1.
Robert Young (2001) Postcolonialism, Oxford: Blackwell, chapters 2 and 26.
Anne McClintock (1995) Imperial Leather, New York and London: Routledge, chapters 1, 5 and 6.
Iain Chambers and Lidia Curti eds. (1996) The Post-Colonial Question, London and New York: Routledge, chapters 5 and 20.
Bill Schwarz, ed. (1996) The Expansion of England, London and New York: Routledge, chapter 2
Elizabeth Poole (2002) Reporting Islam, London and New York: I.B. Tauris, chapters 3 and 4.
Jason Burke (2006) On the Road to Kandahar, London and New York: Allen Lane, chapter 10.

7. Reacting to the Stigma – Occidentalism

This session will look at how people stereotyped as ‘Oriental’ react to the stigma, discussing phenomena such as frontier Orientalism, nesting Orientalism and in particular Occidentalism.#p#分頁標題#e#

Preliminary reading list:

Bakic-Hayden, Milica (1995) ‘Nesting Orientalisms: The Case of Former Yugoslavia’, Slavic Review 54 (4): 917-938. – Distributed in class.
Brunner, Claudia (2007) “Occidentalism Meets the Female Suicide Bomber: A Critical Reflection on Recent Terrorism Debates,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32: 957–971.
Buruma, Ian and Avishai Margalit (eds,) (2004) Occidentalism: A Short History of Anti-Westernism. London: Atlantic.
Carrier, James G. (ed.) (1995) Occidentalism: Images of the West. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Chen, Xiaomei (1995) Occidentalism: A Theory of Counter-Discourse in Post-Mao China, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Furumizo, Eiki (2005) ‘East Meets West and West Meets East: A Comparison of Occidentalism and Orientalism’, Review of Communication 5(2-3): 128-137. - Distributed in class.
Gingrich, A. (1998) ‘Frontier Myths of Orientalism: The Muslim World in Public and Popular Cultures of Central Europe’. In B. Baskar, and B. Brumen (Eds.) (1998) MESS: Mediterranean Ethnological Summer School, Piran-Pirano, Slovenia 1996, Vol. 2. Ljubljana: Inštitut za multikulturne raziskave, pp. 99-127 Lewis, Martin and Kären Wigen (1997) The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Mihelj, S. (2004a) ‘Negotiating European Identity at the Periphery: Media Coverage of Bosnian Refugees and ‘Illegal Migration’’. In I. Bondebjerg and P. Golding (Eds.) (2004) Media Cultures in a Changing Europe. Bristol: Intellect Books, pp. 165-189.

8. Representing Migration

In the modern world, migration often becomes an object of moral panics. In this session, we shall examine various examples of representations of immigration as a social threat. We shall pay attention both to the assumptions underpinning such representations as well as to their relationships with particular institutional practices and legislation. Finally, we should situate both in relation to specific historical developments, especially uneven development and the rise of nation-states.

Lecture reading:

Cohen, Stanley (2002) ‘Moral Panics as Cultural Politics: Introduction to the Third Edition’, pp. vii-xxxvii in Cohen, Stanley (2002 [1972]) Folk Devils and Moral Panics (3rd edition). London and New York: Routledge.
van Dijk, Teun A. (2000) ‘New(s) Racism: A Discourse Analytical Approach’, pp. 33-49 in Cottle, Simon (ed.) Ethnic Minorities and the Media. Buckingham and Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Husbands, Christopher T. (1994) ‘Crises of National Identity as the ‘New Moral Panics’: Political Agenda Setting about Definitions of Nationhood’, New Community, 20 (2): 191-206.
King, Russel and Nancy Wood (eds.) (2001) Media and Migration: Constructions of Mobility and Difference. London: Routledge. (chapters 1, 3 and 4)#p#分頁標題#e#
Koser, Khalid and Helma Lutz (eds.) (1998) The New Migration in Europe: Social Constructions and Social Realities. Basingstoke: Macmillan. (Introduction and chapter 9)

Further reading

Colin Sumner (1994) The Sociology of Deviance, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Colin Sumner ed. (1990) Censure, Politics and Criminal Justice, Milton Keynes and Philadelphia: Open University Press, ch 8.
Jock Young (1974) ‘Mass Media, Drugs and Deviance’ in Paul Rock and Mary McIntosh eds. Deviance and Social Control, London: Tavistock.
Andrew Blake (1996) ‘Foreign Devils and Moral Panics: Britain Asia and the Opium Trade’ in Bill Schwartz, ed. The Expansion of England, London and New York: Routledge, chapter 9.

Tim Cresswell (1996) In Place/Out of Place: Geography, Ideology, and Transgression, London and Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, chapter 5 on the women of Greenham Common.
Rob Sindall (1990) Street Violence in the Nineteenth Century, Leicester, London and New York: Leicester University Press, chapter 3.

10. Drop-in Session

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