CMS f342K POLITICAL COMMUNICATION-WB
Welcome to CMS 342K, a course that examines the theory and practice of political communication in the United States. A democracy has always depended on open and direct communication between its citizens and those who govern them. Today, the White House has its own press office, World Wide Web site, email address, and Twitter account. Entire new specializations have developed in the world of politics—the spin experts, the investigative reporters, the media handlers, advertising’s time-buyers—all of these persons now crowd on top of one another in Washington D.C. and in Austin, Texas. In this class, we will study these phenomena, these people. This is a “citizen’s course” that will challenge you to rethink your views of politics. Whether you are Republican, Democrat, or non-partisan; liberal, conservative, or apathetic is your business rather than ours. There is no partisan or ideological line to follow in this course, and no student will ever be penalized for respectfully disagreeing with the readings or class discussion. Our primary goal in this class is to ask whether or not democracy is made better or worse, helped or hurt, by contemporary communication practices and technologies. This course is one of several in the CMS “Political Communication” track (and there are no prerequisites required to take it).
CMS f344K LYING AND DECEPTION
Few people can honestly claim that they have never lied. Deception is common in human communication, from false compliments that flatter to gross distortions that slander. This course examines lying and deception as strategic and manipulative behavior. Topics include the nature of truth, communication ethics, nonhuman deception, children’s use of deception, self-deception, pathological liars, con artists, imposters, and lie detection. We will also articulate the boundaries between unethical and adaptive deception, considering how some lies serve socially appropriate goals while others provoke distrust or condemnation. Several contexts in which deception commonly occurs (advertising, art, journalism, politics, relationships, etc.) will be explored in depth.
CMS f366F RHETORIC OF FILM
This is a course in film theory and history, which is taught from a rhetorical perspective and organized around three themes: 1) the mode of production, or industry; 2) the apparatus, or the technology of cinematic experience; and 3) the "text," or the network of filmic elements (narrative, image, sound). While exploring each theme we will also work through and examine a set of concepts that have become established as the basic interpretive tools available to those studying and analyzing film as a rhetorical artifact: modes of production, the star, the spectator, narration, enunciation, the gaze, sexual and racial difference within the visual field, the soundtrack, and the disembodied voice. Our emphasis in the course is not on the appreciation of film art, but rather, in theory about film and film criticism. In other words, we are concerned principally with what is at stake in a critical or rhetorical reading. The course is open to a limited number of graduate students with extra assignments under independent study.
CMS w370K INTERNSHIP IN COMM STUDIES-WB
This course is being taught in the summer to utilize students’ opportunities to get work experience in a variety of settings in and out of Austin, Texas. As a result, communication between the professor and the students, as well as the writing assignments for the course, will be handled entirely by e-mail
CMS s332K THEORIES OF PERSUASION
Have you ever felt manipulated by a smooth-talking politician, a slick TV commercial, or a sweet little Girl Scout selling cookies? This course is a survey of prominent perspectives on persuasion and social influence that inform our understanding of compliance-gaining episodes such as these. We will focus on the source, receiver, and message features that affect the nature of persuasive attempts and outcomes, and we will devote attention to what makes persuasive communication behaviors successful and unsuccessful in both interpersonal and mass communication contexts.
CMS s349M ADVANCED ANALYSIS OF POPULAR CULTURE-WB
This is a course about how to analyze the rhetoric of popular culture. We will be learning ways to understand how movies, television, popular music, sports, games, and so forth influence the ways we act and think. We move toward your own original research project and paper, based on independent research. The course assumes some familiarity through previous study with issues of culture, media, rhetoric, and persuasion. The course is web based, which means we do not meet in person but instead conduct all our business through Canvas. This course allows and encourages a lot of independent student work, guided by readings, discussions on Canvas, and instructor explanations.
CMS s354 CONFLICT RESOLUTION-WB
This class will be conducted entirely online. It will cover such questions as: How do you handle fights with your significant other? When you avoid fighting, does it make the relationship stronger or weaker? Do you make the relationship better or kill it off? How do you handle disagreements with your family? Do you find yourself handling things well on one day and making a mess on the next? What makes the difference? Do you have people in your life who make no sense to you? Do you find yourself in conflict with them? How does it go? What happened the last time you had a conflict with a store? Were you satisfied with the outcome? How about problems with a teacher or classmates? Were you satisfied with the outcome in those conflicts? Were you proud of yourself? What makes you proud of the way you handle yourself? (What makes you embarrassed?) When you look at movies and TV shows, do you think what you see is realistic? Do you get ideas about how to handle your own conflicts from there? Do these ideas work? When you look at the President and Congress or North Korea and the US, do you see any similarities between your life and how nations handle conflict? Do things like gender, role, ethnicity, nationality, and even family background make a difference in your conflicts? Do other things matter more or less?
Activities for learning in this class include reading about conflict and communication, analyzing conflicts (including, possibly, your own), and experiencing and evaluating communication behaviors that are said to be effective in conflict talk. Because we will be online, we will also look at some of the electronic contexts for conflict and new designs for dialogue. Materials include assigned reading, teacher lectures (delivered live and posted to Canvas, as well as other video and web materials. You’ll write two taut papers, one on a relationship conflict and one on a less personal, more of a policy conflict. There will be two quizzes to cover the reading and lectures. You will also try your advising and analyzing skills on real life conflicts by applying what you are learning for an additional set of grades.