Specialization in Black Cinema Studies: Aesthetics, History, and Image (Bachelor of Arts in Media)

Students on Summer 2019, Fall 2019, or Spring 2020 requirements MDAS03

Requirements

The specialization requires at least 9 credit hours, including the requirements listed below.

Media School Electives. Two (2) courses:
- MSCH-F 309 Images of War and Peace in Public Culture (approved topics only; see academic advisor)
- MSCH-F 326 Authorship in the Media (approved topics only; see academic advisor)
- MSCH-F 375 Race, Gender, and Representation (approved topics only; see academic advisor)
- MSCH-F 377 Cinemas of the Black Diaspora
- MSCH-F 398 National and Transnational Cinemas (approved topics only; see academic advisor)
- MSCH-X 472 Media Internship (approved internship at Black Film Center/Archive)
- AMST-A 200 Comparative American Identities
- CMLT-C 361 African Literature and Other Arts
- FRIT-F 222 Media Studies in the Francophone World
MSCH-F 309 Images of War and Peace in Public Culture
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Examines the cultural contestation of images of war and peace with a focus on the materiality of political images in a variety of verbal, visual, and acoustic media across a range of cultural forms such as film, literature, art, public memorials, and political texts.
Repeatability
May be repeated when the focus is on a different country or region for a maximum of 6 credit hours in CMCL-C 311 or MSCH-F 309.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE AHcourse
MSCH-F 326 Authorship in the Media
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Topic varies: in-depth analysis of directors, producers, or creative individuals in the media, viewed as 'authors.'
Repeatability
May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE AHcourse
MSCH-F 375 Race, Gender, and Representation
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Construction of race and gender identities across a range of media. Emphasis on the power of sound/image representations to shape and contest ideas about race and gender. Topic varies.
Repeatability
May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours in CMCL-C 412, JOUR-J 375, or MSCH-F 375.
- Summer 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE SHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE SHcourse
MSCH-F 377 Cinemas of the Black Diaspora
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Examines filmmaking in the black diaspora as a formally innovative visual and narrative art form in world cinema. Studies select films for their political and cultural significance and shared themes. Topics include colonialism and postcoloniality; race, gender and sexuality; migration and exile; modernity; and the dislocating processes of globalization.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE DUScourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE DUScourse
MSCH-F 398 National and Transnational Cinemas
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Historical survey of major national cinemas. Subject varies. Topics include Brazilian cinema, British cinema, Chinese cinema, French National cinema, German film culture, Indian cinema, and Italian cinema.
Repeatability
May be repeated with a different topic for a maximum of 6 credit hours in CMCL-C 398 and MSCH-F 398.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE AHcourse
MSCH-X 472 Media Internship

Credits
1–3 credit hours
Prerequisites
At least junior standing; at least 12 credit hours completed in the school; and application for internship credit approved by the school
Notes
Application is available on the Media School website
Description
Faculty-supervised work in a media field related to student's academic interests. Credits based on at least 45 work hours per credit hour with a maximum of 6 credit hours applied toward the B.A. in Media or the B.S. in Game Design. Student must write a critical analysis paper and be evaluated by a workplace supervisor.
Repeatability
May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours in CMCL-C 382, MSCH-I 382, MSCH-I 497, MSCH-X 472, or TEL-T 497.
Grading
S/F grading.
AMST-A 200 Comparative American Identities
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Description
Examines the formation of legal, social, cultural, and economic identities within the United States and within U.S.-controlled territories. Who counts as "American?" To what ends have citizens and non-citizens assumed, claimed, or refused "American" identity? This course employs a comparative frame in considering elite and subordinated classes (and/or genders, races, ethnicities, sexualities); institutional and countercultural forms of self-definition; official history and alternative acts of collective memory.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE DUScourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE DUScourse
CMLT-C 361 African Literature and Other Arts
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Notes
R: CMLT-C 205 or 3 credit hours of literature
Description
A focus on critical issues in the field of African letters, such as transnationalism, the question of orality, choice of language, the economics and politics of publishing--both within and outside the continent, and their impacts on cultural forms including new, non-literary media. Authors such as Achebe, Aidoo, Armah, Diop, Farah, Head, Kunene, Ngugi, p'Bitek, Sembene, and Soyinka.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE AHcourse
FRIT-F 222 Media Studies in the Francophone World
Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Notes
No credit for French minor
Description
Study of the concepts of medium/media and mass media as they appear in the Francophone World, based on specific case studies and theoretical readings. Exploration of the ways in which Francophone people constantly interact with media in North America, Europe and Africa in a digital age. Taught in English.
- Summer 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Spring 2025CASE AHcourse
  
  Fall 2024CASE AHcourse
Specialization GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
1. Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the specialization.
2. A GPA of at least 2.000 for all courses taken in the specialization—including those where a grade lower than C- is earned—is required.
3. Exceptions to specialization requirements may be made with the approval of the department's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.