CMN 529

Spring 2015 All Classes

All Classes

Seminar Communication Theory

Course in Catalog

List of Terms offered

Credit: 4 hours.

Special topics in communication theory and research.

May be repeated to a maximum of 16 hours. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

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CMN 529 class schedule data for spring 2015
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
52001	Lecture-Discussion	CB	2:00PM -4:50PM	T	4007 Lincoln Hall	Bigman-Galimore, C	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Section Title: Causality in Comm Research Section Info: Focuses on issues surrounding causality in communication research, with an emphasis on classic and innovative social scientific research designs, data analysis, and research ethics. Discussion will also explore the role of technology and examine controversies surrounding causality in the academy and public sphere. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
50678	Lecture-Discussion	FL	2:00PM -4:50PM	W	ARR Lincoln Hall	Davis, S	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Section Title: Folklore: Communic & Culture Section Info: Meets with LIS 590 (FL). This course explores the uses of the past in the present through the lens of folklore, a special but pervasive mode of communication framed as tradition. We will explore some of the history of folklore scholarship and look at its methods of study, analysis and interpretation, from the collection of "folklore texts" to the ethnography of communities. We will be reading books and articles by: Roger Abrahams, Richard Bauman, Keith Basso, Benjamin Botkin, Linda Degh, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Henry Glassie, Zora Neal Hurston, Edward Ives, John Szwed, Barre Toelken, among others. We will also be listening to audio and video recordings of performers of tradition. Writing for the course will involve short weekly ?reaction? papers and a final research paper, the topic to be decided in consultation with the professor. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
52000	Lecture-Discussion	IS	5:00PM -7:50PM	W	4103 Lincoln Hall	Stole, I	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Section Title: Consumers, Consumption, & Comm Section Info: During the past two decades, consumer studies have moved from obscurity into the mainstream of many academic disciplines. Thus ?consumer studies? cannot be claimed as the ?property? of any particular field but, rather, an interdisciplinary scholarly endeavor. This seminar uses the lenses of advertising and mass media to explore the rise and development of consumer society. By tracing the birth of modern advertising and the many consumer issues that emerged in tandem, we?ll study their political, economic, and cultural impact. The goal is to create a fundamental framework for evaluating the modern proliferation of commercial expressions and contemplate their imprint on consumers and consumer society. Few developments can be explained through structural forces alone. Thus, an equally important task will be to explore how people as citizens and consumers have negotiated their roles in an increasingly commercialized world. Through readings and class discussions we?ll evaluate books for their relevance to our understanding of these issues. Particular attention will be paid to research methods and strategies and seminar participants will be encouraged (but obviously not obligated) to utilize archival sources (at the University of Illinois campus or elsewhere) as they write a research paper that?s part of course requirement. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
50677	Lecture-Discussion	LK	2:00PM -4:50PM	W	4007 Lincoln Hall	Knobloch, L	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Section Title: Comm & Relational Uncertainty Section Info: An array of questions arise for individuals who are negotiating close relationships (?Why did he do that?? ?What should I say?? ?How invested is he / she?? ?Do I still want to be involved in this relationship?? ?What does the future hold??). Communication is key to how people navigate the questions they have about participating in close relationships. Individuals possess a variety of communication options for dealing with uncertainty: They can constructively seek information, destructively seek information, constructively avoid information, or destructively avoid information. People?s choice of how to manage their questions has important consequences for the well-being of their relationships. Indeed, how individuals communicate under conditions of uncertainty may determine whether their relationships develop or dissolve. This seminar will examine how individuals communicate when they are experiencing relational uncertainty. No prior coursework is necessary for the seminar, but a familiarity with interpersonal communication theory would be helpful. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
51998	Lecture-Discussion	MK	5:00PM -6:20PM	TR	4103 Lincoln Hall	Koven, M	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Section Title: Language, Culture & Identity Section Info: We will discuss how language-use-in-context links speakers to a range of social and cultural realities. From this, we will see how talk not only reflects such realities, it also constitutes them. Specifically, we will examine how people not only use language to describe and refer to themselves and others, but to enact those identities. We will cover a range of "micro" and "macro" approaches to the study of talk. That is, we will explore both how people display and infer identities within specific interactions, as well as how people may understand such identities through multiple, broader frameworks, to include race/ ethnicity, class, generation, peer-group, gender, nation-state, diaspora, etc. We will be concerned with developing analytic frameworks that can be applied to talk in a variety of social and cultural contexts. Students will have the opportunity to collect and analyze their own materials. No previous background is required for this course. Students must be willing, however, to read, synthesize, and discuss material from a range of disciplines. We will read work in semiotics, pragmatics, communication, sociolinguistics, social psychology, and anthropology. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
51999	Lecture-Discussion	RM	5:00PM -7:50PM	T	4007 Lincoln Hall	McChesney, R	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Section Title: Critical Comm Research Section Info: Critical Communication Research is a graduate seminar designed to acquaint students with the critical tradition in communication research. The course emphasizes a rigorous examination of a wide range of cutting-edge recent monographs in the field, and a strong emphasis on students generating high-quality research questions and papers, possibly contributing to theses or dissertations. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
52670	Lecture	SP	2:00PM -4:50PM	M	4007 Lincoln Hall	Poole, M	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 01/20/15-05/06/15 Section Title: Small Group Communication Section Info: This course has two goals: 1. This course will introduce you to the nature of theory and theory construction in communication studies. The topics it will explore include the following: the nature of explanation; theoretical types; strategies for theory construction; the relationship between theory and inquiry in communication research; evaluating and critiquing theories. 2. This course will also introduce you to a range of theories of communication. There are so many theories in such a wide range of contexts that we cannot pretend to be comprehensive. Instead we will focus on exemplars of good theory. Students will construct a theory for their term project. This can either consist of critiquing and advancing an existing theory or building a new one. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.