代做FMS 145/AfAm 144: 90s Black Popular Culture Winter 2025代做迭代

日期：2025-02-14 05:23

FMS 145/AfAm 144: 90s Black Popular Culture

Winter 2025

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is a survey of the shifting signs of blackness through the lens of popular culture from the late 1980s to the millennium. Focusing on politics, film, television, and music, we will discuss the interrelated evolution of these forms in order to understand the persistent impact of racial capitalism on culture. Before arriving into the nineties, we will begin with an analysis of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush’s presidencies and discuss how domestic and international foreign policy were allegedly leveraged and manipulated to produce one of the biggest scandals of the 20th century known as theIran-Contra Affair. From here we will assess how foreign policy between the United States, Israel, Iran, Nicaragua and other surrounding countries aided and abetted the transfer of illegal weapons, drugs, and money in the name of US imperialism at the expense of poor and working class inner city communities. Although seemingly unrelated, we will connect, explore, and track the implications of such foreign policy onto the lived experiences and, eventual, cultural production of Black popular figures in film, television, music, sports, and fashion.  Additionally, this course will investigate Bill Clinton’s presidency and policies and the many ways in which it both aligned and conflicted with mainstream and marginalized perceptions of his political and cultural impact. Overall, we will focus on how politics and Black cultural production in the nineties merged to produce a unique assemblage of material that continues to resonate in today’smedia.

Please Note

Film, TV, and other media is always part of a social and political context and this context is directly   relevant to the concepts in this class and the pedagogical principles of the course. Understanding the context and power relationships that motivate the manipulation of media is important. As such, in this course your instructor reserves the right to discuss historical and current events shaping this course and its content.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

•   Acquire a proficient understanding of the socio-political shifts in the late twentieth century

•   Critically analyze the evolution of nineties Black cultural production and the impact of state- sanctioned manipulation and violence

•   Recognize the influence of Black popular culture on mainstream trends—both past and present

REQUIRED READINGS

All required readings will be made available on Canvas

ASSIGNMENTS

Participation + Attendance 10%

Students are expected to attend every class and maintain a sustained engagement with the course  by participating in dialogue and posing questions. Please discuss ALL absences with me. This is a discussion based seminar—not a lecture course, so your thoughts and ideas matter. For those students who have difficulty speaking in front of large groups, I encourage you to visit my office hours so that I am aware that you are following along with the material and have an interest in your own intellectual development. There is absolutely no excuse for completely disappearing, missing multiple classes, and not communicating with your instructor. If you miss 3 or more classes in a row without notifying me, you will be at risk of failing.

Perusall 20%

You are expected to write at least 2 comments/questions per text. All annotations should be completed by 9am on the day of class. Please see the Perusall Guidelines page for more details.

Reading Responses (2) 20%

Responses should engage critically with the required texts/film pairings screened in the weeks prior to the due date. You can choose which pairing you would like to respond to in between the dates indicated. Simply saying you liked or didn't like something or providing a summary of the readings is not sufficient; you should demonstrate careful, analytical thinking by engaging solely   with the materials from the course screenings and texts. This assignment should be 500-750 words. Double-Spaced. Times New Roman Font. 1-inch margins on all sides. See rubric!

Midterm Assignment 20%

Submit a 500-750 word proposal (not including works cited) explaining the topic of your final project. Whether you are proposing a traditional research paper or creative project—you should provide a clear thesis/argument that will be supported using various resources. Please explain why you chose the topic, an explanation of the type of project you will be submitting, and how you plan to organize it using your selected material. You should also discuss the various sources you plan to explore in order to complete the research aspect of the project. You must also include a properly formatted (MLA/APA/Chicago) works cited page that should have at LEAST THREE academic sources. This should be written in essay form. with paragraphs. Double-Spaced. Times New Roman Font. 1-inch margins on all sides.

Final Creative Project or Paper 20% + Presentation 10%

Over the course of this quarter, you will interact with a variety of films, television shows, and events located at the intersection of media, race, and popular culture. As a final project, you’ll demonstrate a successful application of course materials to a film/show/event not covered in class. This project can be a traditional research paper or multimedia project (such as a short film, a website, podcast, etc.)

What is most important is that your project:

1) centers the major themes of this course located at the intersection of history, culture, and media

2) uses at least one socio-political event to provide an in-depth, well-researched analysis of your topic.

Research papers should be 8-10 double-spaced pages (standard 1” margins). Upload final draft to Canvas.

Multimedia projects should be accompanied by a 2-3 page write-up which describes the project, its theoretical framework, and the research that informed your project. Please upload all multimedia projects to provided Google Drive folder. Write-Ups should be submitted to Canvas. You can choose from the following:

Podcast: 5-15 minutes

Short Film/Video Essay: 5-15 minutes

Website: minimum 4 webpages (excluding homepage)

All projects, regardless of format, should include a Works Cited page. You should incorporate at least three (3) academic texts and at least 8 sources altogether. You should also make sure to include TWO (2) course texts (written, audio, or visual from syllabus) into your project.

In-Class Presentation Requirements

•   Presentations will be conducted at random during Week 10—everyone must be ready to present on Tuesday. If you are absent on the day of your presentation you will receive a 0 on this assignment.

•   Presentations should be 5 mins

•   Presentation content must include:

1.   thesis/argument

2.   example of supporting evidence

3.   explanation/reasoning of chosen format (paper or multimedia project)

4.   conclusion/findings

5.   visual component such as a clip, PowerPoint, google slides, canva, etc.