Transnational Communities and Media Cultures
Department of Media, Culture and Communication
New York University (Steinhardt)
New York University
Media, Culture, and Communication
Transnational Communities and Media Cultures
MCC-GE-2165.001
Course Description
This course examines contemporary issues and research regarding the formation of
transnational communities, patterns of migration and the role of media forms and
practices in redefining culture and national belonging. We will explore how media
practices define culture and identity for diasporic groups within the landscape of
global cities. What role do media and technology play in the (re)imagining of cultural
politics, nationalism and everyday life in the context of global relocations? What does
it mean to negotiate the global and local in various aspects of immigrant lives?
Course Objectives
To expose students to current research and theory drawn from interdisciplinary
sources in the comparative study of global mobility, media texts and practices in the
context of urban landscapes.
Evaluation
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Participation and involvement in discussions will be evaluated. You are
expected to lead 2-3 discussions in class and participate actively in critiques of
the material assigned. On specified days, you will be expected to make brief
postings on NYU Classes which will be factored into your participation grade.
Participation constitutes 20% of your grade.
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There will be 3 papers written through the semester as per the schedule .
Papers 1 & 2 will be roughly 6-8 pages long. Paper 3 will be roughly 12-15
pages long. These papers will demand a critical engagement with the texts
read in class and when required field and text based research. More details
can be found on NYU classes under assignments. Paper 1 & 2 will each count
for 25% of your grade. Paper 3 will count for 30% of the grade.
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Required Texts.
• Ngai, May (2010) The lucky ones. Houghton Mifflin,
• All other readings will be made available through NYU Classes.
Expectations
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Students are expected to come prepared with the readings and actively
participate in class
Given the timely nature of our subject, students are expected to keep pace
with current affairs and international news about immigration
Written work should be original and reflect ability to critically reflect on the
reading and relate it to specific issues related to immigration in the
contemporary context
In class, I expect you to be completely engaged in the class and not be
involved in other activities (including checking your email/social media
activities etc). This is protocol that I expect all students to observe and
honor.
Class Policies
• All work has to be completed on time – no extensions.
• All components of the course have to be satisfactorily completed to receive a final
grade.
General Guidelines for all Papers
Papers are to be typed double spaced 12-point font.
Please use MLA or APA style manual and be consistent
Papers to be turned in electronically on the date indicated on the syllabus.
Your name and page numbers should be printed on the header.
Evaluation Rubric
A= Excellent
This work is comprehensive and detailed, integrating themes and concepts from
discussions, lectures and readings. Writing is clear, analytical and organized.
Arguments offer specific examples and concisely evaluate evidence. Students who
earn this grade are prepared for class, synthesize course materials and contribute
insightfully.
B=Good
This work is complete and accurate, offering insights at general level of
understanding. Writing is clear, uses examples properly and tends toward broad
analysis. Classroom participation is consistent and thoughtful.
C=Average
This work is correct but is largely descriptive, lacking analysis. Writing is vague and
at times tangential. Arguments are unorganized, without specific examples or
analysis. Classroom participation is inarticulate.
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D= Unsatisfactory
This work is incomplete, and evidences little understanding of the readings or
discussions. Arguments demonstrate inattention to detail, misunderstand course
material and overlook significant themes. Classroom participation is spotty,
unprepared and off topic.
F=Failed
This grade indicates a failure to participate and/or incomplete assignments
A = 94-100
A- = 90-93
B+ = 87-89
B = 84-86
B- = 80-83
C+ = 77-79
C = 74-76
C- = 70-73
D+ = 65-69
D = 60-64
F = 0-59
COURSE POLICIES
Absences and Lateness
More than two unexcused absences will automatically result in a lower grade. Chronic
lateness will also be reflected in your evaluation of participation. Regardless of the
reason for your absence you will be responsible for any missed work. Travel
arrangements do not constitute a valid excuse for rescheduling exams. There are no
extra credit assignments for this class.
Format
Please type and double-space your written work. Typing improves the clarity and
readability of your work and double-spacing allows room for me to comment. Please
also number and staple multiple pages. You are free to use your preferred citation
style. Please use it consistently throughout your writing. If sending a document
electronically, please name the file in the following format
Last name/Global Media Seminar/Final Project
Grade Appeals
Please allow two days to pass before you submit a grade appeal. This gives you time to
reflect on my assessment. If you still want to appeal your grade, please submit a short
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but considered paragraph detailing your concerns. Based on this paragraph I will
review the question and either augment your grade or refine my explanation for the
lost points.
General Decorum
Slipping in late or leaving early, sleeping, text messaging, surfing the Internet, doing
homework in class, eating, etc. are distracting and disrespectful to all participants in
the course.
Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/policies/academic_integrity
The relationship between students and faculty is the keystone of the educational
experience at New York University in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education,
and Human Development. This relationship takes an honor code for granted and
mutual trust, respect, and responsibility as foundational requirements. Thus, how you
learn is as important as what you learn. A university education aims not only to
produce high-quality scholars, but to also cultivate honorable citizens.
Academic integrity is the guiding principle for all that you do, from taking exams to
making oral presentations to writing term papers. It requires that you recognize and
acknowledge information derived from others and take credit only for ideas and work
that are yours.
You violate the principle of academic integrity when you cheat on an exam, submit the
same work for two different courses without prior permission from your professors,
receive help on a take-home examination that calls for independent work, or
plagiarize.
Plagiarism, one of the gravest forms of academic dishonesty in university life, whether
intended or not, is academic fraud. In a community of scholars, whose members are
teaching, learning, and discovering knowledge, plagiarism cannot be tolerated.
Plagiarism is failure to properly assign authorship to a paper, a document, an oral
presentation, a musical score, and/or other materials that are not your original work.
You plagiarize when, without proper attribution, you do any of the following: copy
verbatim from a book, an article, or other media; download documents from the
Internet; purchase documents; report from other’s oral work; paraphrase or restate
someone else’s facts, analysis, and/or conclusions; or copy directly from a classmate or
allow a classmate to copy from you.
Your professors are responsible for helping you to understand other people's ideas, to
use resources and conscientiously acknowledge them, and to develop and clarify your
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own thinking. You should know what constitutes good and honest scholarship, style
guide preferences, and formats for assignments for each of your courses. Consult your
professors for help with problems related to fulfilling course assignments, including
questions related to attribution of sources.
Through reading, writing, and discussion, you will undoubtedly acquire ideas from
others, and exchange ideas and opinions with others, including your classmates
and professors. You will be expected, and often required, to build your own
work on that of other people. In so doing, you are expected to credit those
sources that have contributed to the development of your ideas.
Avoiding Academic Dishonesty
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Organize your time appropriately to avoid undue pressure, and acquire good
study habits, including note taking.
Learn proper forms of citation. Always check with your professors of record for
their preferred style guides. Directly copied material must always be in quotes;
paraphrased material must be acknowledged; even ideas and organization
derived from your own previous work or another's work need to be
acknowledged.
Always proofread your finished work to be sure that quotation marks, footnotes
and other references were not inadvertently omitted. Know the source of each
citation.
Do not submit the same work for more than one class without first obtaining
the permission of both professors even if you believe that work you have
already completed satisfies the requirements of another assignment.
Save your notes and drafts of your papers as evidence of your original work.
Disciplinary Sanctions
When a professor suspects cheating, plagiarism, and/or other forms of academic
dishonesty, appropriate disciplinary action may be taken following the department
procedure or through referral to the Committee on Student Discipline.
The Steinhardt School Statement on Academic Integrity is consistent with the New
York University Policy on Student Conduct, published in the NYU Student Guide.
STUDENT RESOURCES
• Students with physical or learning disabilities are required to register with the
Moses Center for Students with Disabilities, 726 Broadway, 2nd Floor, (212998-4980) and are required to present a letter from the Center to the instructor
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at the start of the semester in order to be considered for appropriate
accommodation.
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Writing Center: 411 Lafayette, 3rd Floor. Schedule an appointment online at
www.rich15.com/nyu/ or just walk-in.
Assignment Details
Details regarding each of the papers are posted under assignments
CLASS SCHEDULE
Week 1
January 27
Introductions
Introduction to course content and expectations and key issues.
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Week 2
February 3
Arcs of migration
Lakhous, Amara (2012) Clash of civilizations over an elevator in Piazza Vittorio. Europa
Selections.
Benyamin, (2012) Goat days. Trans. Koyipally. Caravan
Adiche, Chimamanda (2013) Checking out. New Yorker
Mehta, Suketu (2011 The Asylum seeker. New Yorker, August 1, 32-34.
Week 3
February 10
I
Politics of Admittance
• Löwenheim, Oded and Gazit, Orit. 2009. Power and examination: A critique
of citizenship tests. Security Dialogue, 40 (2) 145-167
• Smith, Evan and Marmo, Marinella (2011) Uncovering the “virginity testing”
controversy in the national archives: The intersectionality of discrimination in
immigration history. Gender & History 23 1 147-165
• Lubheid, Eithne (2002) Entry Denied: Controlling sexuality at the border.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press. Chap. 2, 4
• Behdad, Ali, (2005) On Immigration and cultural identity in the U.S. Duke
University press. Chap. 5
Week 4
February 17
President’s Day
No Class Meeting
Paper 1 due at the end of week 4
Week 5
February 24
Technology and diasporic transformations
• Miller, Daniel & Madianou, Mirca (2012) Migration and New Media. Routledge.
Selections. 4,5,6,
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• Tiziano Bonini (2011) The media as ‘home-making’ tools: Life story of a
Filipino migrant in Milan. Media, Culture and Society, 33, 6, 869-883
• Sun, Wanning (2011) Maid as metaphor: Dagongmei and a new pathway to
Chinese transnational capital. In Hegde (ed) Circuits of Visibility.
• Morley, David (2000) Media, mobility and migrancy. From Home Territories.
Routledge.
Week 6
March 3
New Publics
• Stoller, Paul (2002) Money has no smell: The Africanization of New York City.
University of Chicago Press, Chapter 4, 6
• Kang, Milann (2012) The Managed Heart: Race, Gender and the body in beauty
service work.University of California Press, 2012, Chapter 4
• Schielke, Samuel ( 2012) Engaging the world on the Alexandria waterfront.
From Graw & Schielke (eds) The Global Horizon. Leuven University Press
Week 7
March 10
Crisis of citizenship
• Vasta, Ellie (2011) Immigrants and the paper market: Borrowing, renting and
buying identities. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34:2, 187-206
• Talavera et al (2010) Deportation in the US Mexico Borderlands. From
DeGenova & Peutz (eds) The Deportation Regime. Duke University Press
• Oliveri, Frederico (2012) Migrants as activist citizens in Italy. Citizenship
Studies 16:5-6; 793-806
.
Week 8
March 17-23
SPRING BREAK
Week 9
March 24
Home and Place-making
• Mandel, Ruth (200 ) A place of their own. In Metcalf (ed) Making Muslim Place
in North America and Europe. University of California Press, 147-166
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Tolia-Kelly, Divya (2004) Locating processes of identification: Studying the
precipitates of re-memory through artefacts in the British Asian home.
Transactions British Instittue of Geographers. 29 3 311-329
Ewing, Katherine (2006) Between Cinema and Social Work: Diasporic Turkish
Women and the (Dis)Pleasures of Hybridity. Cultural Anthropology Vol. 21, No.
2 , 265-294
Mushaben, Joyce (2010) From Auslander to Inlander: The changing faces of
citizenship to post-wall Germany. German Politics and Society, 94, 28 (1) 141-164.
Paper 2: Due by March 27
Week 10
March 31
Difference as Interruption
• Jones, Maggie (2012) Postville, Iowa is up for grabs. NYT Magazine July 1
• Finnegan, William (2006) New in Town: Somalis in Lewiston. New Yorker,
December 11
• Kotlowitz, Alex (2007) Our Town. NYT Magazine, August 5.
Week 11
April 7
Cultural Politics of Food
• Manalansan, Martin (2007) Cooking up the senses: A critical embodied
approach to the study of food and Asian American television audiences. In
Mimi Thi Nguyen and Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu (Eds). Alien Encounters, Duke
University press.
• Mannur, Anita (2005) Model minorities can cook: Fusion cuisine in Asian
America. From S. Dave, L. Nishimi & T. Oren (eds). E. Main Street: Asian
American Popular Culture. NYU Press, 2005
• Wanning Sun, Leaving China: Media, Migration and Transnational Imagination,
Rowman & Littlefield, 2002, Chapter 6
• Lam, Francis (2012), Cuisines mastered as acquire tastes. NYT, May 29
Week 12
April 14
Ngai, Mae. (2014) The Lucky Ones. Princeton University Press. (All students will post
a comment on Ngai’s book/method on NYU classes)
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Week 13
April 21
Networks and Mobility
• Osella, Caroline and Fillipo Ossella (2012) Migration , networks and
connectedness across the Indian Ocean. 105-136. In Kamrava, Mehra & Babr,
Zahra (2012) Migrant Labor in the Persian Gulf. New York: Columbia Universit
Press. (59-84).
• Wallis, Cara (2013) Navigating mobile networks of sociality and intimacy. From
Technomobility in China. NYU Press.
• Ong, Aihwa The Pacific Shuttle: Family, citizenship and capital circuits.
Week 14
April 28
Migration as Spectacle and Consumption
• Underriner, Tamara (2011), Playing at Border Crossing in a Mexican Indigenous
Community…seriously. TDR 55:2, Summer 2011, 11-31
• Tarlo, Emma (2010) Visibly Muslim: Fashion, politics, faith, Berg. Chap, 7, 8.
• Kun, J., 2004. What is an MC if he can’t rap to Banda? Making music in Nuevo
L.A. American Quarterly, 3, 741-758
• Burman, Jenny (2010) Transnational Yearnings: Tourism and the diasporic city.
Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia press. Excerpts Chps 4,5
Week 15
May 5
• Presentations
Week 16
May 12
• Concluding discussions
Paper 3 due by Thursday May 12th
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