Find your group's page in the top menu.
Feel free to explore resources in other groups' pages as well--you may find inspiration or a helpful idea!
Here are some approaches your group can take to this project. You will likely end up combining certain approaches (such as using a conceptual tool on a specific target of analysis), or explore multiple angles over the course of the project:
Target of Analysis:
Industry: Take a look at the big picture of the media industry you are examining. Who has representation among the different jobs behind the scenes of creating a work of pop culture? Who has the power to make decisions about what gets funded, who gets included, what messages are sent?
Creator: Take a look at the person(s) directly responsible for the creation of the media objects. Who is allowed and empowered to create? What are obstacles that creators face? How do they create in (un)ethical ways?
Content: Take a look at one of more examples from your media category. What kind of representation is available/given? What messages are communicated and how? Do you see evidence of (un)ethical content/messages?
Audience/Effect: Take a look at how (an object of) your medium is used by audiences. Is it used in ethical/unethical ways (e.g. white supremacists co-opting symbols from superhero comics)? What kind of effect does the content/object of media, or a broader trend in the media, have on certain groups of people?
Scope:
Wide: Look at a range of examples, common trends, and/or data from a wide scope of research. Or, look at multiple aspects of consideration, such as multiple targets of analysis.
Narrow: Focus on qualitative data (such as perspectives/data from a small set of individuals), a single or small set of examples, or a narrow area of concern, such as applying a single conceptual tool to a single target of analysis.
Mid: Find some middle ground between a very broad and super focused scope of inquiry.
Conceptual Tools
(Mis)Representation: How are certain identities not represented, represented poorly such as through stereotypes or single stories, or represented well?
Symbolic Annihilation: How does the industry or mainstream condition of your category omit, trivialize, or condemn certain groups that are not socially valued?
Public Pedagogies: What are the ways that (examples from) your category teach ideologies to society? In other words, how does it effect what we know about other people and the world?
Oppression and Domination: Are there any mechanisms of oppression-"the institutional constraint on self-development"- or domination-"The institutional constraint on self-determination"-present in your area of consideration?
Five Faces of Oppression: Do any of the five faces of oppression operate in your category or example? If so, how?
Intersectionality: How do different identities intersect and compound injustices? What are the multiple and overlapping frames that can be/are present in your example/category? Video Link: Intersectionality
Diversity vs. Inclusion, Equity vs. Justice:
Other: Make use of conceptual tools (theories, concepts, etc.) provided in your materials or that you encounter in your exploration and research.
Direction:
Backwards-looking: Take a look at the history of representation in your category. What changes do you see over time and what influenced them? What effect did changes, or certain periods/examples/etc., within your category have on audiences/mainstream culture?
Forwards-looking: Consider the the possibilities of representation going forward. What do you think could be the case, and what effect might it have? What recommendations would you make to create a positive change in representation in your category?
Follow the Rabbit: What questions still remain or what new questions have you discovered as you learn more about your category/topic? What other ethical problems or questions are connected with or stem from what your exploration?
Value
Positive: Focus your analysis on the positive outcomes/effects of representation in your category.
Negative: Focus your analysis on the negative issues/outcomes of representation in your category.
Neutral: Consider both the positives and negatives of representation in your category.
This project allows your group a great deal of freedom in deciding your direction and focus on exploration. In large part, the process and thinking you undertake in this project is more important than what you learn and share: this is you engaging in philosophical exploration. How you do that is going to depend on your inquiry choices, what you and your group bring to the table, and how you work together and/or divide labor. Note, however, that philosophy is at its core a dialectic process--individual authors are always responding to previous philosophers and future replies, even if they don't say so explicitly. The best philosophy happens in conversation with others, working together to think about a problem or idea from multiple perspectives.
Philosophy can be boiled down to three questions: Why? So what? Now what? Why questions are concerned with better understanding an idea or issue. Just like a young child, every time you find an answer, ask again: why? So what are concerned with understanding why a certain idea, issue, or exploration is important. Any result you find or theory you posit, ask (and answer) so what? Why should anyone care? Now what questions are concerned with what comes next. Based on what you've learned or posited, what should be done as a result, or what further questions need to be explored? If you're exploring an applied topic (which we are) these answers are usually actions to take, but not always. Your investigation can focus on one of these questions primarily, but a complete philosophical analysis should at least provide some amount of attention to all three. You may not get to answer all three questions by the end of the project, but you can decide what kind of question is most useful or most interesting that you want to explore.
Your exploratory process will likely involve a cycle of reviewing materials, discussing those materials together, and then applying them and/or digging in further. The specifics are up to you and your group dynamic. This is going to be a cycle where you build on what you've already done by finding another resource, tool, or example to help answer the question you are currently considering and repeating the process. Remember, you may end up somewhere you didn't expect, but that doesn't mean you did something wrong-it's just where your exploration led you.
I do expect that everyone contributes fairly and equitably. One of your first group conversations should be to determine what group norms you want to follow and how you plan to distribute the labor. Lean on your strengths--if one person is an expert researcher or has more knowledge about a certain area, let them take the lead there, but make sure that the overall distribution of effort evens out. You should also collaborate on what your focus is and what direction you pursue through the course of the project--this should be interesting and fun for everyone!
Recommendation: For each time the group meets, you should appoint and rotate certain roles, such as:
Bard (Notetaker): This person will take notes and/or create a summary of what you covered that session and who contributed what and how.
Mage (Discussion Leader): This person will lead and facilitate discussion, making sure that everyone is included.
Ranger (Question Guru): This person prepares questions ahead of the session about the materials or the project and/or takes the lead on asking questions during the discussion for other group members to consider.
Berserker (Devil's Advocate): This person is responsible for offering comparisons, objections, counterexamples, or alternate perspectives during the conversation.
Cleric (Reflector): This person leads the group in reflecting on your progress, current status and questions,
I will provide some form of group and self evaluation during and after the project so you can document the contributions from each member.
While the primary goal of this project is philosophical exploration, you will need to produce some evidence and explanation of what you accomplish during your project. Thus, I would like each group to create and present a 5 minute presentation sharing what you think are the most important or interesting findings, questions, ideas, etc. that your group discovered from your inquiry. This should be somewhat focused--don't cover every single thing you did, but choose one or a few things to cover in more depth.
Your presentation can be in any format you like--pre-recorded video, graphic or slideshow with narration, etc. Choose based on what will best suit your category and outcomes as well as what your group (or a specified member) is most comfortable with producing. Feel free to be creative with this.
Finally, my hope is that the work you do, materials you utilize, and ideas you explore in this project will help you in developing your assignments, including your final mixtape projects.