International Relations 1800N
Senior Seminar
Spring 2010

James Der Derian
John Phillip Santos
863-1814/7425

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 andvideo 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 broadcast, theatrical exhibition, or other 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, consisting of screenings and group project presentations. Students will also attend weekly evening screenings of films and documentaries, some of which will be available online.

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)
Phillip Knightley, The First Casualty
Shanti Kumar/Lisa Parks, Planet TV: A Reader
Michael Shapiro, Cinematic Geopolitics
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others
Paul Virilio, War and Cinema
Cynthia Weber, International Relations Theory: Critical Introduction

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
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
Hardt and Negri, Empire
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
Jacques Ranciere, Film Fables
Anya Schiffrin et al, Covering Globalization
Philip Seib, Beyond the Front Lines
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), The 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)

Ted Bogosian, The Press Secretary
James Cameron, Avatar
Peter Davis, Hearts and Minds
DerDerian/Udris, VY2K, After 9/11 and Human Terrain
Ari Folman, Waltz with Bashir
Michel Haneke, Caché
Errol Morris, Fog of War/S.O.P
Sydney Pollack, Three Days of the Condor
Thomas Balmès, Bosnia Hotel
John Phillip Santos, Late City
Ian Olds, The Fixer
Michael Winterbottom, Code 46

Course Topics and Schedule

1 Introduction to Global Media (January 27)

'Writers, Intellectuals, Teachers' (Handout)
Entry blogging assignment

2 Classical and Critical Theories of War and Peace (February 3)

International Relations Theory Chapters 2-4

Theories of International Relations Chapters 1-4
www.humanterrainmovie.com

Film: Avatar and Human Terrain

3 GlobalMediaLab 1: Documentary Production (February 10)

Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction

The No-Nonsense Guide to Global Media
Documentary Makers

Film: VY2K and After 9/11
Guests: David and Michael Udris

4 Empire and Media (February 17)

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

Imagined Communities
Fables of Responsibility

Film: Late City/Code 46
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:

5 GlobalMediaLab 2 Print and Press (February 24)

Parchment, Printing and Hypermedia

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

Film: The Fixer
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

6 20th Century War/Media: Signs, Spies, & Speed (March 3)

Century of Media, Century of War
Society of the Spectacle

Empire

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

7 GlobalMediaLab 3 Photography and Cinema (March 10)

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

CTRL[SPACE]: Rhetorics of Surveillance
Camera Lucida

Film: Caché
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

8 Critical Theories/Practices of Media (March 17)

War and Cinema
Cinematic Geopolitics

Theories of International Relations Chapters 5-10
Literature, Media, Information Systems

Film: Fog of War/S.O.P
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

9 GlobalMediaLab 4 Radio and Television (March 24)

The First Casualty Chapters 14-18
Planet TV: A Reader

http://www.radioopensource.org
The Penguin Atlas of Media and Information

Film: The Press Secretary
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

10 The Gulf War, Global Swarming, and the CNN-Effect (April 7)

The First Casualty Chapter 19-21
Virtuous War Chapters 1-6

The News Media, Civil War, Humanitarian Action

Film: Bosnia Hotel
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

11 GlobalMediaLab 5 The YouTube-Effect (April 14)

Handouts

Film: TBA and selected YouTube shorts
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

12 21st Century War/Media: 9/11, Iraq and the Al Jazeera-Effect: (April 21)

Virtuous War Chapters 6-12
Regarding the Pain of Others

Philosophy in a Time of Terror

Film: Waltz with Bashir
Guests:
Literature Review:
Documentary Review:
Thematic Essay:
VBlog:

13 GlobalMediaLab 6 Convergence (April 28)

http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com

Mediated
Now They Tell Us

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

14 Making Media Matter (May 5)