The Media School
Specialization in Black Cinema Studies: Aesthetics, History, and Image (Bachelor of Arts in Media)
Students on Summer 2020, Fall 2020, or Spring 2021 requirements MDAS03
Requirements
The specialization requires at least 9 credit hours, including the requirements listed below.
- Media School Electives. Three (3) 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 AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 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 AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 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 SHcourseSpring 2025CASE SHcourseFall 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 AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourseSpring 2025CASE DUScourseFall 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 AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 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 AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Summer 2025CASE DUScourseSpring 2025CASE DUScourseFall 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 AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 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 AHcourseSpring 2025CASE AHcourseFall 2024CASE AHcourse
- Specialization GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
- Minimum Grade. Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the specialization.
- Minor GPA. 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.
Specialization Area Courses
-
Unless otherwise noted below, the following courses are considered in the academic program and will count toward academic program requirements as appropriate:
- Any course contained on the course lists for the academic program requirements at the time the course is taken—as well as any other courses that are deemed functionally equivalent—except for those listed only under Addenda Requirements
- Any course directed to a non-Addenda requirement through an approved exception
Exceptions to and substitutions for specialization requirements may be made with the approval of the unit's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.