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Department of Communication |
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Major in Communication
The major in communication provides students with an understanding of theories, processes, and practices of human communication, with an emphasis on the following areas: media and technology; cultural identities and relationships; politics and political economy. The major consists of ten courses with a minimum of 30 credits. Three core methods courses are required of all majors; close textual analysis (either COMM 315 or 325), identity and relationship analysis (either COMM 314 or COMM 324), and media or technology analysis (either COMM 316 or COMM 326). In addition, majors consult with their advisors to select seven elective courses. At least four of these courses must be 300-level or above, and two must be 400-level or above. In general, 100 and 200 level courses are introductory courses. 300-level courses encourage applications of communication theory through research methods and service learning. Most 400 level classes are capstone experiences, stressing writing, creative production, or a service learning internship. Students wishing to graduate with honors in communication must take either the graduate seminar (COMM 621 or 622) or another 400-level honors course, and complete an honors project. Majors planning to enter the Junior Year Abroad program should seek departmental advice as early as possible.
| advanced seminars & capstones |
COMM 105 - Introduction to Personal Communication (3)
Staff: Survey of person-to-person communication, including interpersonal, group, organizational and public communication. Concepts and theoretical approaches for each of the areas will be introduced.
COMM 110 - Introduction to Mass Communication (3)
Staff: Survey of mass communication, including the various types of contemporary mass media. Theories of mass communication and current trends will be discussed, together with an overview of research methods.
COMM 115 - Introduction to Cinema (3)
Staff: historical survey of international cinema focusing on political, social, economic, technological, and aesthetic factors. Major film movements and historical developments from 1895 to the present are covered including U.S. silent cinema, Soviet montage, German expressionism, French impressionism and surrealism, the transition to sound, classical Hollywood cinema, the impact of WWII, Italian neorealism, the French New Wave, art cinema, new German cinema, and new Hollywood cinema.
COMM 220 - Organizational Communication (3)
Staff: An introductory exploration of the nature and function of communication within organizations. Emphasis on how speakers, messages, and forms of communication interact with the needs and objectives of corporate, governmental and professional organizations.
COMM 223 - Interpersonal Communication (3)
Professor Daruna: Introduction to theories and models of interpersonal communication which enhance understanding and development of interpersonal relationships. Course content covers topics such as listening behavior, intrapersonal processing, dyadic interaction, conflict management, intercultural, intimate and nonverbal communication.
COMM 230 - Political Communication (3)
Professor Porto: A survey of theories, empirical research, and critical analysis of contemporary political communication processes in the United States. Topics may include the role of the media in electoral campaigns, strategies of presidential communication, as well a the relationship between media and political institutions, including Congress and the Courts. News coverage of social movements and political protest will also be discussed. The course covers a variety of political communication genres, such as journalism, political advertising, talk shows and political websites.
COMM 240 - Topics in International Film Movements and National Cinemas (3)
Staff: This course focus on specific film movements n international cinema, with an emphasis on understanding stylistic and aesthetic innovations in their social-historical context. Topics may include European film movements, Chinese cinemas and others. May be repeated for credit if different topic with the permission of the Film Studies Director.
COMM 250 - Film and Society (3)
Staff. This class investigates various social issues that emerge from an examination of films produced in the United States, Europe and the developing world. Students consider societal forces such as class, race, gender, youth, family, prejudice, education and homelessness. The cinematic depiction of these factors as well as the connection between cinematic language, syntax, structure and a film’s ultimate meaning or message are explored.
COMM 255 - Introduction to Television Studies (3)
Staff: This course is an introduction to the study of television as a unique audio-visual culture with its own history and styles. Students will learn a new vocabulary for reading television texts and will practice methods of television analysis. Examples from television programming from the 1950s to the present will supplement readings. This course is not appropriate for students already advanced in film or media analysis, nor is it for students wanting a course in broadcast productions skills.
COMM 260 - Rhetorical Principles of Writing for News Media (3)
Professor Mackin: Applies principles of classical and contemporary rhetorical theory to problems of writing for news media. Incorporates grammar review. Writing requirements include major news story, major feature story and numerous smaller assignments. Emphasis on writing for print media, but stylistic techniques for broadcast media also covered.
COMM 270 - Visual Communication (3)
Staff: This course examines the history and theory of visual communication and its application in a variety of cultural contexts. Topics include the transition from print to visual media, the development of visual literacy and the role of emerging technology. Students will complete applied projects using photography, video and electronic media, digital imaging, and web-based visual technology.
COMM 281, 282 - Special Topics (3, 3)
Staff: A detailed study of particular issues, problems and developments in the history, theory and criticism of communication. Topics may be drawn from any of the departmental areas of concentration, for example, the concept of invention, the rhetoric of religion, non-verbal communication, mass media and culture and similar themes. May be taken twice for credit on different topics.
COMM 314 – Intercultural Analysis (3)
Professor Mayer, Professor Daruna: A critical examination of communication in intercultural, interethnic and international contexts. An overview of models and approaches designed to explain cultural differences in communication, with emphasis on the dimensions of symbolization, acculturation, prejudice, stereotyping and ideology. Conceptual frameworks are applied and tested within a range of cultural populations as defined by race, ethnicity, gender, physical disability, sexuality, socio-economic class and geographic location.
COMM 315 - Film Analysis (4)
Professor Balides, Professor Lopez, Professor Ukadike, Professor Esch: Introduction to film analysis designed to help students develop a visual literacy with regard to film and a critical understanding of how films produce meanings. Focus is on formal analysis of film including elements such as narrative, mise-en-scène, editing, camera movement, sound and on key critical and theoretical approaches such as neoformalism and psychoanalysis. Classical Hollywood cinema and avant-garde and independent film making traditions are studied in order to focus on the “politics of form.” A required film journal helps students develop analytical and critical skills. Required course for the film studies minor.
COMM 316 -Technology Analysis (3)
Professor White, Professor Mayer: The study of technology as material culture through its production, dissemination and uses. Theorizes ways of approaching technology as symbolic tools, as material goods and as part of a cultural geography. Contextualizes digitalization in terms of social, political and economic discourses. Includes research methods for analyzing technology.
COMM 324 - Interaction Analysis (3)
Professor Daruna: Focus on the investigation, interpretation and critical assessment of human interaction. Emphasis is given to interaction occurring in the relational contexts of marriage, friendship and the organization. Study includes the cultural and ideological elements, the models of communication used to explain interaction and the analysis of everyday communication phenomena in each context.
COMM 325 - Rhetorical Analysis (4)
Dr. Mackin, Staff: The description, analysis, interpretation and evaluation of persuasive uses of language. Emphasis on classical, situational, generic, dramatistic and ideological methods of criticism. Judgments about aesthetic, pragmatic, logical and ethical dimensions of rhetoric.
COMM 326 – Media Analysis (3)
Professor Porto, Professor Mayer, Staff: The study of the structure of media industries and their contents based on humanistic and social science approaches. Theorizes major trends in industry ownership and practices; the effects of political economy on textual symbols, discourses and genres; the function of media programming in reinforcing or altering perceptions of ideas, events, and people. Familiarizes students with research methods for analyzing media.
COMM 327- Authors and Genres (3)
Professor Balides, Professor Lopez, Professor Ukadike, and Staff:
Prerequisite: COMM 315. Questions of authorship and of genre are two key paradigms of film criticism. This course examines the aesthetic and theoretical bases for notions of authorship and genre in the cinema including romantic theories of art, auteur criticism, structuralism and post-structuralism. It also considers the historical development of the oeuvre of individual directors as “authors” (e.g. Hitchcock) and of particular film genres both in Hollywood cinema (e.g. film noir) and in non-mainstream and non-U.S. cinema. Genres and directors studied will change. May be repeated up to two times on different topics with approval of the Film Studies Director.
COMM 328 - Media Histories (3)
Professor Mayer, Professor Balides: This course looks at media histories, with a focus on the different kinds of stories we tell about media, its contents and contexts. The course explores historical trends, the nature of histiography (the study of history) and some fundamentals of historical research.
COMM 330 - Comparative Political Communication (3)
Professor Porto: Examination of the links between media and political systems, based on a comparative approach. Offers a detailed comparison of political communication processes in different regions of the world and identifies how social, cultural and economic contexts are central to understanding the role of the media in political processes.
COMM 351 – Environmental Communication (3)
Professor Mackin: The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding and analysis of communication processes used in defining environmental issues and shaping environmental policies. Topics include defining nature and environment; diverse audiences and environmental messages; developing strategies for risk communication; and creating effective environmental campaigns. Case studies of successful and unsuccessful environmental communication will be examined.
COMM 355 - Third World Cinema
Professor Ukadike: This course surveys the cinematic practices of the developing nations of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The filmic practice, at once revolutionary and ideological, has not only produced some of the world’s most striking filmic innovations, but is now recognized as having initiated a new phase and expanded definitions of the art of cinema. The issues to be addressed include: the development of a national cinema, the impact of politics on film style, video and television culture, the commonalities and differences in modes of production, the relationship of film to the societies’ values and cultures and the role of cinema as a mediation of history.
COMM 360 – Documentary Cinema (3)
Professor Ukadike: Prerequisite: COMM 115. The films to be studied in this course are selected from the spectrum of documentary film practice from the 1920s to the present. Concentration will be on specific topics as well as an historical overview. Consideration placed on the developing and shifting conception of documentary film practice, social issues, political and propagandistic values, and documenting “Other,” as well as claims to veracity and objectivity will be treated within an analytical framework. Different approaches to production—particularly within the burgeoning ethnographic and women’s film practices—will also be examined.
COMM 361 – Alternative Journalism (3)
Professor Mayer: This course balances the practical development of literary journalistic skills with academic inquiry into the theorizing and development of journalism that conceptualized itself as an alternative to mainstream news content, media and practices. It will also examine the changing meaning of the word “alternative” in relation to journalistic genres, such as non-fiction stories, underground writings, ethnic presses and community media. This class can be taken as a service learning course for an optional 4th credit.
COMM 380 – Cinema Reception and Cultural Memory (3)
Professor Balides: This course investigates historical changes in film audiences, film exhibition and film reception from the silent to the contemporary period as well as the issue of cultural memory and cinema. Issues focusing on who the audience for cinema has been during different historical periods, that changes have taken place in the venues in which films have been shown and cinema reception as cultural history are explored. The course also theorizes questions of reception and memory in terms of psychoanalysis, oral history and the public sphere. This course includes an optional service learning component. COMM 315, Film Analysis, is recommended but not required.
COMM 389 – Service Learning (1)
Staff: Prerequisite: departmental approval. Students complete a service activity in the community in conjunction with the content of a three-credit corequisite course.
advanced seminars and capstones:
COMM 417 – U.S. Film History (3)
Professor Balides: This course covers major formal, industrial and cultural issues in the history of cinema in the United States from 1895 to the present Course topics include the formal distinctiveness of the early period, the emergence of continuity editing and the classical Hollywood style, post-classical cinema, monopolistic industry practices, exhibition venues, the studio system, synchronized sound, contemporary independent production, and the relationship between film and commodity culture. Case studies on censorship, the representation of race and black radical politics, and female spectatorship integrate formal, industrial and cultural analysis. COMM 315 is recommended.
COMM 418 – African Cinema (3)
Professor Ukadike: This course will provide a critical and interdisciplinary look at the development of African cinema from its inception in the 1960s to the present. In looking at this period, we will move from the sociopolitical upheavals of late colonialism to the recent phase of introspection and diversification. The relationship of cinematic practices to transformation in the social and economic sphere will be examined, as well as the creation of distinctively African film styles based on oral traditions. In pursuing these topics, we will consider the impact of technology, history and culture, ties to the cinema of other developing nations and co-productions. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 419 – Introduction of Latin American Film (3)
Professor Lopez: The development of cinema in Latin American from its arrival as an imported technology to the present. Films studied in relation to the sociopolitical environment and emphasis placed on close analysis as well as a contextual understanding of the material. Topics include the struggle to create national film industries, the “art film” and New Cinema movements, and recent trends in countries such as Mexico and Argentina. Same as SPAN 419.
COMM 425 – Rhetorical Theory (3)
Professor Mackin: A survey of rhetorical theories from pre-Socratic Greek theories to contemporary European and American theories. The course compares and analyzes theories of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine, Bacon, Blair, Campbell, Whately, Richards, Burke, Derrida and others. Ontological, epistemological and practical aspects of theories will be examined.
COMM 426 – Communication, Culture and the Body (3)
Professor Daruna: An examination of the relationship between communication as the production and consumption of cultural meaning, and the body as both the agent and the product of communication. Emphasis is given to the analysis of 20th century practices, images and institutions which illustrate and inform prevailing cultural representations of the body. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 430 – Cultural Politics in Cinema (3)
Professor Ukadike: This course is designed to explore developments in the cross-cultural use of media from Hollywood feature films to ethnographic documentaries, from Caribbean liberationist literature to African allegories of colonialism, and from indigenous use of film and video to Black Diasporan “oppositional” film practice. Issues to be addressed include Afrocentrism, Eurocentrism, ethnocentrism, multiculturalism, racism, sexism, gender and class bias. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 435 - Gender and the Cinema (3)
Professor Balides, Professor Lopez: Explores the position of women in Hollywood and other cinemas by studying the evolution of women’s cinema and of feminist film theories from the 1920s to the present. The history of feminist film analysis, focusing on theoretical-sociological, psychoanalytic, semiological underpinning of feminist critiques of both commercial and independent avant-garde film practices.
COMM 436 – Cultural Studies across Disciplines (3)
Professor Balides, Professor Daruna: Examination of the major concepts of culture from the late 19th century to the present as they relate to the analysis of cultural practices and texts. Specific emphasis placed on the interdisciplinary nature of cultural analysis, the relation between elite and popular cultures, dominant formations and the resistance to them, and intercultural encounters. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 440 - Mass Communication Law (3)
Professor Porto: Prerequisite: COMM 326. Studies federal and state regulation of both print and broadcast media in the United States to understand how legal mandates and constraints have defined the roles of media in society. Historical and contemporary analyses include laws in areas such as libel, privacy, free press versus fair trial, access to government information, regulation of advertising and regulation of broadcasting.
COMM 450 – Media & Democracy in Latin America (3)
Professor Porto: Explores the role of the mass media in contemporary Latin American democracies and investigates whether communication industries and institutions have contributed to promote or impede democratic consolidation in the region. Includes a discussion of investigative journalism and of the barriers to and perspectives for the full democratization of media and political spheres in the region. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 455 – Advanced Topics in Television Studies (3)
Professor Mayer, Professor Porto, Professor White: This course offers advanced study of television as a unique audio-visual culture with its own history and styles. This course presumes basic knowledge of television terms and methods of media analysis. Topics include: Feminist and Gender Studies, Post-Network Televisuality and The Public Sphere. May repeat under a different topic for credit. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 456, 457 – Service Learning Internship in Communication (3, 3)
Staff: Prerequisite: Obtain approvals of academic supervisor and department. Provides combination of academic work and practical experiences in communication with specific service learning organizations. Must meet college and departmental requirements. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 458 – Cultural Politics and Practices (3)
Professor Koritz: Designed for students with a commitment to improving their community, this course introduces cultural knowledge and communication skills needed to make an impact in increasingly diverse communities and workplaces. Explores the uses of creative expression and story-telling as tools for enabling effective communication and understanding how individual choices and opportunities are affected by historical, social and economic conditions beyond the control of individuals. Combines reading and discussion of urban-centered literary texts with texts by social scientists and community activists. Frequent visits from local community activists and scholars who can help us understand New Orleans as a community and our own roles in this city. Each student will be actively engaged with a local public school or non-profit organization. Includes a mandatory service learning component. Same as ENS 485. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 465 – Brazilian TV and Culture (3)
Professor Porto: This course investigates the dynamic interactions between television and culture in Brazil. It looks at television as one of the central institutions that mediate the constitution of hegemonic values and meanings in Brazilian society. Special emphasis is given to the role of television in shaping gender, ethnic, class, religious and political identities in Brazil. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 470 – Ethics of Communication (3)
Professor Mackin: A critical study of various ethical theories within the field of communication studies. Theories will be applied in case studies from different contexts of communication, including interpersonal communication, organizational communication, mass communication and political communication. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 475 – New Media Theory (3)
Professor White, Staff: This course will explore the conceptual frameworks and theories that are essential to an understanding of modern media, a succession of new media including photography, film and digital media. We will focus on theories of semiotics, ideology, psychoanalysis, narrative, modernism, and postmodernism, which have formed the bases for analyzing forms of reproduction from the mechanical to the digital. We will consider the interrelationships—linkages and ruptures—between different media and the process of remediation in which the content of a new medium is the older medium that it has replaced. We will end by examining digital media in the context of social/cultural/political formations—gender, race, community, public sphere and global flows. Same as ENLS 475. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 477 – Theories of Consumption and Production (3)
Professor Mayer: Prerequisite: COMM 326. This course analyzes theoretical constructions of media audiences and media producers historically and in contemporary contexts. Liberal, Marxist and feminist paradigms will be explored along with a variety of research methods used in audience and producer studies. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 480 – Constructing Masculinities (3)
Professor Daruna: This course examines cultural representations of masculinity across a wide range of communication practices. Informed by an interdisciplinary approach to questions of gender identity, the course interrogates key sites in the performance of masculinity. Topics include historical, theoretical and critical conceptualizations of men and manhood, dominant and marginalized masculinities, cultural influences on masculine identity, central practices in male culture and strategies for rethinking gender. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 481, 482 – Special Topics in Communication (3, 3)
Staff: A detailed study of particular issues, problems and developments in the history, theory and criticism of communication. Topics may be drawn from any of the departmental areas of concentration, for example, the concept of invention, the rhetoric of religion, non-verbal communication, mass media and culture and similar themes. May be taken twice for credit on different topics. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 485 - Cinema, Technology, Modernity (3)
Professor Balides: Focus on cinema as a cultural practice during the early and late periods, especially as it has shaped perception and experience. Films are assessed for the way they reenact the logic of key technologies and for the way they represent technologies. Cinema is also viewed as a technology of vision in its own right. In particular, 19th century optical toys, the railroad, photography, the computer and cinema are assessed in relation to shifting conceptions of space and time, modes of experience, the terms of everyday life, and the status of mass culture and reproduction in the modern and postmodern periods. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 486 – Film Theory (4)
Professor Balides: Prerequisite: COMM 315. An advanced course focusing on contemporary French, British and U.S. film theory. Topics include realism and phenomenology, Russian Formalism, neoformalism, structuralism, narratology, Marxism and ideology, psychoanalysis, cinema semiotics, feminism and poststructuralism. Debates covered assess film as a text; the relationship between film and the spectator; and the implications of cinema as a historical phenomenon, including the status of digital cinema. Early, classical Hollywood, contemporary, and avant-garde films screened. A required film journal helps students develop analytical skills. Required for the Film Studies major or minor. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
COMM 491, 492 - Independent Studies (1-3, 1-3)
Staff: Open to qualified juniors and seniors only.
COMM H499 – H599 – Honors Thesis (3, 4)
Staff: For especially qualified juniors and seniors with approval of the department and the Honors Committee.
COMM 621, 622 – Seminar in Communication Studies (3, 3)
Staff: Prerequisite: approval of instructor. An intensive study of a specific issue or set of issues in rhetoric and public address, interpersonal communication, or mass communication (e.g. propaganda, legal communication research), or of an individual theorist (e.g. Aristotle, Kenneth Burke), or genre of discourse (e.g. ideological argumentation, the rhetoric of social movements). May be taken twice for credit on different topics. This course satisfies the capstone requirement.
New
Orleans, LA 70118