International Relations 1800N / MCM 1201X
James Der Derian and Ted Bogosian
WIIS 863-1814/7425
Fall 2012

Global Media: History/Theory/Production

This course will explore the historical and contemporary roles of media in international affairs, both as a source of information and, increasingly, as an important medium of war and diplomacy. The seminar is composed of three tracks. The first is historical, focusing on the dual development of colonial and media empires from early days of print media to the Internet. The second is theoretical, using classical IR and critical theory to examine media as product and instrument of cultural, economic and political struggles. The third is practical, using biweekly 'Global Media Labs' in which guest media practitioners teamed with media theorists will present master classes in a variety of media, including print, photography, radio, cinema, television, and online convergences . Combining history, theory, critical viewing, film screenings, and media production, and based on a retrospective study of news media, documentaries, and critical media theory, the course will map the complex contemporary global media environment where the satellite, Internet and cell phone, among other recent technologies, have created a new panorama of messages, meanings and stratagems directly affecting international politics.

Course Requirements

Each student will be responsible for: 1) a literature, film, or documentary review from weekly sections (20%); 2) a thematic essay or videoblog of a guest speaker from a different weekly section (30%); and 3) group participation in the production of a written treatment and video trailer or short documentary based on project development work from the Global Media Labs and Project (50%). The literature/documentary reviews (3-5 pages), thematic essays (4-6 pages), and videoblogs will be made available to all students on the Global Media Blog (www.globalmediaproject.net). Half-way into the semester students will form development teams to produce treatments/trailers/short documentaries for public presentation. There will be an option to work on projects under development by the Global Media Project. These projects will be shared with the larger Watson/Brown community in a final Global Media Forum to be held during exam week. Students will also attend weekly evening screenings of films and documentaries on Tuesday evening, most of which will be available for repeat online viewings.

Readings

Required books are available at the Brown Bookstore and on reserve at the library. Additional photocopies of articles and online sources will be made available. Films will be shown weekly.

Required:

Robin Anderson A Century of Media, A Century of War
Patricia Aufderheide Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction
Walter Benjamin The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and Other Writings on Media
Guy Debord Society of the Spectacle
Ronald Deibert Parchment, Printing and Hypermedia
James Der Derian Virtuous War (and hand-outs)
M.Tschofen / J.Burwell Images and Territory
Phillip Knightley The First Casualty
Shanti Kumar / Lisa Parks Planet TV: A Reader
Paul Virilio War and Cinema
Cynthia Weber International Relations Theory: Critical Introduction

Recommended:

Eric Barnouw Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film
Roland Barthes Camera Lucida and 'Writers, Intellectual, Teachers'
Benedict Anderson Imagined Communities
Kristina Borjesson Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11
Hedley Bull Anarchical Society
Scott Burchill et al Theories of International Relations
Judith Butler Frames of War
J. Derrida and J. Habermas Philosophy in a Time of Terror
Atom Egoyan and Ian Balfour Subtitles: On the Foreignness of Film
A. Galloway and E. Thacker The Exploit
David Goldsmith The Documentary Makers
Derek Gregory The Colonial Present
Hammond, Philip, et al Media, War and Post-modernity
Barry Hampe Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos
Werner Herzog Herzog on Herzog
Miles Hudson et al War and the Media
Thomas Keenan Fables of Responsibility
Thomas Levin CTRL[SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance
Marc Lynch Voices of the New Arab Public
Friedrich Kittler Literature, Media, Information Systems
Marshall McLuhan War and Peace in the Global Village
Robert McChesney, et al The Future of Media
Michael Massing Now They Tell Us: The American Press and Iraq
Larry Minear et al The News Media, Civil War, Humanitarian Action
John Merrill Global Journalism, Fourth Edition
Hugh Miles Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story
Bill Nichols Introduction to Documentary
Jacques Ranciere Film Fables
Michael Shapiro Cinematic Geopolitics
Anya Schiffrin et al Covering Globalization
Philip Seib Beyond the Front Lines
Susan Sontag Regarding the Pain of Others
Aaron Sorkin NBC West Wing Pilot Episode
David Spurr The Rhetoric of Empire
Paul Starr The Creation of the Media
Peter Steven The No-Nonsense guide to Global Media
Paul Virilio (ed. Der Derian) Paul Virilio Reader
Evelyn Waugh Scoop
Gabriel Weimann Terror on the Internet
Lawrence Wright The Looming Tower
Thomas de Zengotita Mediated
J. Zulaika and W. Douglas Terror and Taboo

Screenings (others TBA)

Thomas Balmès Bosnia Hotel/TBA
Blight/lang/Masutani Virtual JFK/TBA
Ted Bogosian The Press Secretary/NBC West Wing
DerDerian/Udris After 9/11 and Human Terrain
John Grimonprez/Andrew Feinstein Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y/Shadow World
Eugene Jarecki The House I Live In
Alison Klayman Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Errol Morris Fog of War/S.O.P
John Phillip Santos Late City/Ancestral Journeys to Now

Course Topics and Schedule

1. Introduction to Global Media (September 5)

Entry assignment

2. Classical and Critical Theories of War and Peace (September 12)

International Relations Theory Chapters 2-4

Theories of International Relations Chapters 1-4

3. GlobalMediaLab 1: Multimedia Workshop (September 19)

Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction

The No-Nonsense Guide to Global Media
Documentary Makers

Film: Project Z (rough cut) and Art of Peace treatment
Guests: David and Michael Udris

4. The Rise of Global Media (September 26)

International Relations Theory Chapters 5-9
The First Casualty Chapters 1-13

Imagined Communities
Fables of Responsibility

Film: TBA
Guests: Thomas Balmes (invited) and Sebastian Kaempf
Thematic Essay:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:

5. GlobalMediaLab 2: Documenting Dissent (October 3)

Films: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Guest: Alison Klayman
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

6. From Print to Hypermedia (October 10)

Parchment, Printing and Hypermedia

The Creation of the Media Part 1
War and Peace in the Global Village

Film: TBA
Guests: Ron Deibert
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

Special Guest (October 11)

7. From Photography to Cinema (October 17)

The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility and Other Writings on Media Images and Territory

The News Media, Civil War, Humanitarian Action Theories of International Relations Chapters 5-10

Film: TBA
Guests: Thomas Levin and Sondra Peron (invited)
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

8. GlobalMediaLab 3 The Military-Industrial-Prison Complex (October 24)

Films: Why We Fight/The House I Live In
Guests: Eugene Jarecki
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog

9. From Cinema to Video (October 31)

War and Cinema

Literature, Media, Information Systems
Cinematic Geopolitics

Film: TBA
Guests: TBA
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:

10. GlobalMediaLab 4: Mixing Fact and Fiction (November 7)

Film: Anatomy of a Homicide: Live on the Street
Guests: TBA
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

Special Guests (November 13)
Jim Blight and janet lang

11. Making TV (November 14)

Planet TV: A Reader
NBC West Wing Pilot Episode

Film: The Press Secretary/NBC West Wing
Guests: P.J. Crowley and Ted Widmer
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

12. MIME-NET and Human Terrain (November 28)

The First Casualty Chapter 19-21
Virtuous War

www.humanterrainmovie.com
Frames of War

Film: Human Terrain
Guests: National Defense University HTS team and special guests
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

13. GlobalMediaLab 6 Convergence (April 23)

Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11
Philosophy in a Time of Terror
Terror on the Internet

Film: Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y/The Shadow World
Guests: Johan Grimonprez and Andrew Feinstein
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

14. InfoWar/InfoPeace (December 12)

Regarding the Pain of Others
Infopeace.org/artofpeaceconference.org

Film: Ancestral Journies
Guests: John Phillip Santos
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

Global Media Forum (December 19)
Followed by Zero Dark Thirty