Admission requirements
This course is only available for second year students in the BA International Studies.
The number of participants is limited to 25.
Description
When thinking about the media and representation of conflict nowadays, one cannot get around questions of censorship. Mentioning censorship in describing relations between the media and the state and discussing the dynamics of international circulation has become indispensable – but what exactly do we mean by this term? In a historical perspective, we will probably think of the notorious examples of centralized ideological control in regimes that attempted projects of social engineering such as former soviet and apartheid states. Yet even after the dissolution of authoritarian regimes, censorship appears to survive and thrive within transforming societies. On the other hand, also in democracies mechanisms of censoring appear to be involved once the sustained power relations and status quo are contested. In order to understand the more intricate processes of censorship in a variety of regimes today, historical and comparative approaches are particularly helpful. Focusing on the past and present of censorship in the ’transitional’ contexts of Russia and South Africa as well as, more cursorily, in parts of Latin America, East Asia and Middle East, this course aims to tackle the nexus of censorship and social transformation.
The course proceeds from a broad understanding of censorship as involving not merely legal regulations, but specific patterns of speaking, listening and viewing tied in with the dynamics of power relations. Discussing examples of literature, film, visual art and the mass/new media, we will examine the many faces of censorship – its manifest and structural dimensions, censorship imposed by the state and by market forces, the entanglement of political and moral reasoning, and the ambiguous relations between censors, authors and critics.
The course will focus on cultural production primarily in Russia and South Africa and will include case studies of censorship in Cuba, China and Morocco, along with providing general conceptual background for the study of censorship. Participants are encouraged to develop broader comparative perspectives relating the insights from the regions and countries in focus to practices of censorhsip in the regions they study. During the last sessions they will have an opportunity to present own research projects which will provide basis for the final essays.
Additionally, the students will work through W.C. Booth, G.G. Colomb, J.W. Williams, The Craft of Research, third edition, Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Course objectives
The elective courses for International Studies are designed to teach students how to deal with state-of-the-art literature and research questions. They are chosen to enhance the students’ learning experience by building on the interdisciplinary perspectives they have developed so far, and to introduce them to the art of academic research. They are characterised by an international or comparative approach.
Academic skills that are trained include:
Oral presentation skills:
1. to explain clear and substantiated research results;
2. to provide an answer to questions concerning (a subject) in the field covered by the course
a. in the form of a clear and well-structured oral presentation;
b. in agreement with the appropriate disciplinary criteria;
c. using up-to-date presentation techniques;
d. aimed at a specific audience;
3. to actively participate in a discussion following the presentation.
Collaboration skills:
1. to be socio-communicative in collaborative situations;
2. to provide and receive constructive criticism, and incorporate justified criticism by revising one’s own position;
3. adhere to agreed schedules and priorities.
Basic research skills, including heuristic skills:
1. to collect and select academic literature using traditional and digital methods and techniques;
2. to analyze and assess this literature with regard to quality and reliability;
3. to formulate on this basis a sound research question;
4. to design under supervision a research plan of limited scope, and implement it using the methods and techniques that are appropriate within the discipline involved;
5. to formulate a substantiated conclusion.
Written presentation skills:
1. to explain clear and substantiated research results;
2. to provide an answer to questions concerning (a subject) in the field covered by the course
a. in the form of a clear and well-structured oral presentation;
b. in agreement with the appropriate disciplinary criteria;
c. using relevant illustration or multimedia techniques;
d. aimed at a specific audience.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the BA International Studies website
Mode of instruction
Seminar and supervised research.
Course Load
Total course load for the course: 10 EC x 28 hours= 280 hours, broken down by:
Hours spent on attending lectures and seminars: 24 hours
Time for studying the compulsory literature: 80 hours
Completion of short assignments: 46 hours
Researching and writing final paper: 130 hours
Assessment method
Assessment
Weekly assignments, and a final paper of 5,000 words.
Weighing
To complete the final mark, please take notice of the following: the final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
To pass the course, the weighted average has to be 5.5 at least.
Resit
In case of resubmission of the final essay (insufficient grade only) the final grade for the essay will be lowered as a consequence of the longer process of completion. The deadline for resubmission is 10 days after receiving the grade for the final essay.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used. For tutorial groups: please enroll in blackboard after your enrolment in uSis
Students are requested to register on Blackboard for this course.
Reading list
MÜLLER, BEATE. „Censorship and Cultural Regulation: Mapping the Territory.“ Critical Studies 22.1 (2003): 1-31.
HOLQUIST, MICHAEL. “Corrupt Originals: The Paradox of Censorship.” PMLA 109.1 (Jan. 1994): 14-15.
TOLSTAYA, TATYANA. “The Perils of Utopia: The Russian Intelligentsia under Communism and Perestroyka.” Development and Change 27 (1996): 315-329.
YURCHAK, ALEXEY. “Suspending the Political: Late Soviet Artistic Experiments on the Margins of the State.” Poetics Today 29: 4 (Winter 2008), 713-733.
MERRETT, CHRISTOPHER. “A Tale of Two Paradoxes: Media Censorship in South Africa, Pre-Liberation and Post-Apartheid.” Media Freedom and Human Rights 15: 1 & 2 (2001), 50-68.
DUBIN, STEVEN. “Shame and Disgrace: The Arts, their Publics and Would-be Censors.” Spearheading Debate: Culture Wars and Uneasy Truces. Cape Town: Jacana Media, 2013, 152-156, 174-187.
DARNTON, ROBERT. Censors at work; how states shaped literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014. (Introductory chapter)
HOFFMAN, BERT. “Civil society in the digital age: how the Internet changes state-society relations in authoritarian regimes. The case of Cuba” in: Francesco Cavatorta (ed.), Civil Society Activism under Authoritarian Rule. A comparative perspective, London, New York: Routledge, 2012, 219-244
FRASER, NANCY. “Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy.” Social Text 25/26 (1990), 56-80.
W.C. Booth, G.G. Colomb, J.W. Williams, The Craft of Research, third edition, Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2008
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable
Contact
Remarks
The deadline for submission of the final essay is 9 June 2017.
Passing this course is an entry requirement for the thesis and thesis seminar, elective year 3, and Practising Internatonal Studies.