Admission requirements
Students should have taken a 100-level course in Global Citizenship before enrolling on this course, which gives access to 300-level courses in Global Citizenship and Political Arts.
It would be useful if students had already taken the Literature of War Journalism course.
Description
This course will study the conflicts that have occurred in the first decade of the 21st century and the journalistic coverage of those conflicts. The course will concentrate on 9/11 and its aftermath in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as looking at the “war on terror” more generally. Included will also be the various wars in Africa – in the Congo, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast and the current uprisings in the Arab world. There will be a specific focus on how the development of the internet and various social media have affected coverage of these conflicts and of how journalism, specifically in the West, has fundamentally changed as a result of the new technologies.
There will be a number of set books and a series of documentaries, but students will also be expected to find their own articles (or documentaries) about a particular war and prepare individual presentations to the class
Course objectives
- To give students a clear insight into the conflicts that have shaped our world at the beginning of a new century and how those conflicts differ with those that have gone before – To give students an understanding of how journalism in combat zones (and more generally) has changed and developed in the age of the internet and the social media
Timetable
Please see the LUC website: www.lucthehague.nl
Mode of instruction
During the first week there will be two lectures, with a general debate towards the end of each. Thereafter there will be one lecture per week and one class devoted to watching and discussing a variety of documentaries, and of students giving presentations on a particular piece of reporting they have researched, again followed by a general debate. Every student will give at least one presentation
Assessment method
- Interactive engagement with course material: assessed through In-class participation (20% of final grade):Ongoing Weeks 1 – 7
- Individual engagement with course readings: assessed in 4 essays (600 words each: together 40% of final grade):Weeks 2, 4, 5, 7 Mondays at 12:00
- Individual research: assessed through Individual presentation to class (20% of final grade):Ongoing Weeks 3 – 7
- Expression of holistic understanding of the course: assessed through Final research essay (1000 words; 20% of final grade):due in Week 8 Thursday at 17:00
Blackboard
This course is supported by a BlackBoard site
Reading list
The Following Books should be bought by students:
The Invention of Peace – Michael Howard (ISBN
War After September 11 – Verna Gehring Ed (ISBN 0-7425-1468-4, Rowan and Littlefield, 2003)
Ghost Wars – Steve Coll (ISBN 0-141-02080-6, Penguin Books 2005)
War – Sebastian Junger (ISBN 978-0-00-733771-2, Fourth Estate, 2010)
Black Hearts – Jim Frederick (ISBN 978-0-330-53347-8, Macmillan, 2010)
A Long Way Gone – Ishmael Beah (ISBN 978-0-374-10523-5, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2007)
War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning – Chris Hedges (ISBN 978-1-4000-3463-5, Anchorbooks 2003)
The Net Delusion – Evgeny Morozov (ISBN
A number of articles will also be handed out to the class by the instructor.
Registration
This course is only open for LUC The Hague students.
Contact information
Aernout van Lynden: avlynden@yahoo.co.uk
Weekly Overview
Week 1: Introductory lecture and lecture on 9/11
Week 2: Documentary on 9/11 and lecture on initial war in Afghanistan
Week 3: Lecture on the war in Iraq and student presentations
Week 4: Lecture on the wars in Africa and student presentations
Week 5: Lecture on the war in Afghanistan and student presentations
Week 6: Lecture on the uprisings in the Arab world and student presentations
Week 7: Lecture on the new media and student presentations