WMN2030

Women,Media and Consumption: Feminist Cultural Studies

(ART)

Jane-Maree Maher

6 points + 2 hours per week + first semester + Clayton + Prohibitions: CLS2340, CLS3340,PLT2070, PLT3070, SCY2030, SCY3030 + Prerequisites: Any first year sequence.

Synopsis: This subject offers students an introduction to the growing field of intellectual inquiry of feminist cultural studies by exploring questions of women and gender in relation to the interrelated fields of media and consumption. Gender as an analytical category will be deployed both in relation to the production of popular culture and to its consumption, enabling students to explore a number of approaches to the field including: materialist and structural critiques of mass cultural production, analyses of how cultural meanings are made (including audience response approaches), enumerative media content analysis, and feminist (and other) approaches to popular sub-cultures.

Assessment: Bibliographic/research skills exercise (1000 words): 20% + Essay (2500 words): 50% + Class test (1 hr, equiv. 1000 words): 20% + Class participation: 10%