Course Catalog

Graduate Course Catalog

The Media Studies Graduate Program courses are best thought of as subject areas under which more particular courses are devised, based on current student and faculty goals and work. Form & Genre, for example, can mean an Interactive Narrative Lab one semester, and an exploration of the Gnostic tradition in Technology another. Media and Politics could cover political campaigns, the changing relationship of government to the fourth estate, the state of citizen media, or all three.

Courses are usually limited to 12 students, and meet once a week for two hours. Each class is supplemented by a practicum, supervised lab, or conference hour where the instructor supports students in their own research pursuits as they intersect with the general topic area of the course. These practicums are in the spirit of English "supervisions" or "tutorials," and are driven as much by the goals of the students as those of the instructors.

In addition to our own courses, you will also have access to the full range of courses in all Queens College graduate programs, as well as the newly formed CUNY Media and Digital Studies Consortium, which offers relevant courses in theory, practice, art, technology, media literacy, digital games, and data visualization from the other colleges and universities in the CUNY system.

The full course listings are below. Students may take a particular course more than once if it is covering a different topic within that subject area. All students are required to take Media and Social Justice and Capitalism and Media, among other program requirements.

MEDST 701 Media Archaeology. 2 hr. plus supervised lab. and/or conf. hr.; 3 cr.
This introduction to media historiography surveys material approaches to media history, locating media artifacts within broader cultural contexts, and mapping established and emergent audiovisual archives. Designed with an international focus, this course engages a range of historical strategies, from traditional chronologies to new theoretical and experimental methodologies, including ecological perspectives and alternative histories of obsolete technologies, abandoned sites, and neglected practices.

MEDST 702. Capitalism and Media. 2 hr. plus supervised lab. And/or conf. hr. 3 cr. Seminar offers an intensive introduction to global capitalism and its relation to established and contemporary media systems. This is primarily a theory course that will teach graduate students to understand, analyze and research the diverse forms of governance, cultural power, knowledge, public policy, and resistance associated with media as they shape, and are shaped by race, class, and gender politics.

MEDST 703 Media and Social Justice. 2 hr. plus supervised lab. and/or conf. hr.; 3 cr.
Seminar examines political, economic and sociological approaches to media as agents of historical change and social transformation within struggles over race, class, and gender, topics include the digitization of society and how information technology and networks work within digital capitalism, and the significance of contemporary media within abiding struggles over injustice, exploitation, and social justice.

MEDST 704. Gender, Sexuality, and Media. 2 hr. plus conf. hr. 3 cr.
An intensive introduction to the relationships between gender, sexuality, and media. Recognizing the power of media representations, technologies, and industries to shape and enforce dominant ideas about gender and sexuality, students learn about various forms of media activism addressing gendered injustice, exploitation, and inequality.

MEDST 707. Methodology in Media Research. 3 hr.; 3 cr.
An introduction to basic scientific research methods used within the field of communications and the philosophical arguments behind the various approaches. Students learn to read and access statistical information as presented in communications research studies.

MEDST 740. Media Management. 2 hr. plus supervised lab. And/or conf. hr. 3 cr.
Survey of media management for broadcast and cable television, film, and print media. Topics include economic structure of the industries, organization and staffing, financial management, marketing and PR, programming and production, industry practices and techniques, technology and regulation. Emphasis will be on practical understanding of how these industries manage the communication process.

MEDST 745. Advertising and Marketing. 2 hr. plus supervised lab. And/or conf. hr., 3 cr.
An examination of the complex dynamic among business, technology and consumers. Learn the objectives, strategies and tactics that are used to brand and sell across a variety of products and services from consumer packaged goods (CPG) to personal branding. Topics include consumer behavior, industry analysis, media planning and buying, and the development of creative communication. Case studies will be used to put theory into practice.

MEDST 752. Media Theory. 3 hr.; 3 cr.
Analysis of theoretical models; examination of relationships among interpersonal, organizational, mass, and societal communication systems.

MEDST 754. Survey of Media Research. 3 hr.; 3 cr.
An examination and evaluation of media research. Emphasis on behavioral and experimental research.

MEDST 757. Media and Politics. 3 hr.; 3 cr.
The study of the interaction of media upon politics with special attention to topics such as rhetorical strategies used in presidential campaigns and elections, social movements, and Marxist theories of media.

MEDST 758. Form and Genre. 4 hr.; 3 cr.
Analysis of selected topics in media trends, forms, and styles. Social and political impact of film and ethnic and cultural minorities in film. This is a "variable topics" course number. Students may take it more than once if the subject is different. Common iterations of MEDST 758 include:

• Interactive Narrative Lab: This graduate-level laboratory class considers the impact of interactivity on traditional narrative structure, and explores new methods for conveying narrative in non-linear, digital, and augmented forms of art, entertainment, and communications.

• Digital Hacktivism Lab: A seminar and hands-on workshop in web, app, and physical computing specifically applied toward activist, hacktivist, and cause-related efforts. The course looks at theory and case studies of digital activism, while also teaching skills in project-based units.

• Gender, Sexuality, and Media: This course will approach questions of gender, sexuality, and power in popular media, from early cinema’s appeals to middle-class female audiences at the turn of the last century, to the contemporary use of social media by feminist activists of color.

• Drawing II/Experimental Media:This class will focus on personal and collective storytelling . Returning to the roots of moving image technology, we will experiment with new forms of expression and narrative while creating do-it-yourself media apparatuses, direct film animation, video for performance, and graphic novels. 

• Sound: A study of sound as a creative medium in theory and practice. The class involves a study of motion picture soundtracks, sound art works, radio broadcasts, historical recordings, as well as hands on sound recording and editing using new computer technologies.

• Media and the Environment: This course examines how our perceptions of human and natural environments are framed by technologies and how those same technologies are used by media activists to intervene in, challenge, and change the larger cultural and political contexts of our environment. 

• Creative Sound Production: A study of sound as a creative medium in theory and practice. The class involves a study of motion picture soundtracks, sound art works, radio broadcasts, historical recordings, as well as hands on sound recording and editing using new computer technologies.

MEDST 759. Studies in Communication. 3 hr.; 3 cr.
This is a variable topics course number for communications studies courses. Students may take it more than once if the subject is different. Common iterations of MEDST 759 include:

• Digital Economics: This course provides a critical survey of these transformations, analyzing the structure and social significance of digital economies in relation to still powerful 20th century mass media models.

• Media Activism: Black Rebellion & Revolutionary Media: This course offers an intellectual survey of dissent with a particular focus on activist media forms that have shaped, and been shaped by, enduring struggles for black autonomy, voice, freedom, and power.

• Media, Manipulation, and Magick: This seminar will explore the relationship between influence techniques, media technology, and the occult: From the radio sigils of Aleister Crowley and Adolf Hitler to the occult rituals of Jack Parsons and L Ron Hubbard; the cut-and-paste of Gysin and Burroughs to the charging of corporate sigils; and from the psychedelic origins of the internet to the magical intentions of Pepe the Frog. 

• Technology, Media, and Democracy: A collaboration between Cornell Tech, Columbia, NYU, The New School and QC Media Studies to understand the various threats to journalism and media, and attempt to address these challenges using design, engineering, and computational methods and techniques. 

MEDST 760.  Rhetorical Theory and Media. 3 hr.: 3 cr.
Study of rhetorical theories of communication from Aristotle to the present applied to a contemporary media context.

MEDST 764. International Media Systems. 3 hr.; 3 cr.
International, transnational, cross-cultural, and comparative analyses of media systems.

MEDST 769. Digital Hacktivism Lab. 2 hr. plus supervised lab. And/or conf. hr. 3 cr. A seminar and hands-­on workshop in web, app, and/or physical computing specifically applied toward activist, hacktivist, and cause­-related efforts. The course looks at theory and case studies of digital activism, while also teaching skills in project based units. ​

MEDST 788. Cooperative Education Placement.
Experiential learning through job placements, internships, or independent field work under external supervision. Opportunities to test, apply, demonstrate, and expand on academic learning in an organizational setting. Prerequisites: at least three Media Studies courses and a one-page proposal to the MA Program Director. At the completion of the project, th​e student shall submit any product as well as a written report of the experience to the faculty advisor for evaluation and a grade. MEDST 788.1. 1 hr.; 1 cr. ; MEDST 788.2. 2 hr.; 2 cr. ;MEDST 788.3. 3 hr.; 3 cr.

MEDST 797. Special Problems.
Prereq.: Approval of program coordinator and department chair. Media Studies graduate students may receive up to three credits of life-experience credit under the conditions specified by the department; consult the coordinator of the Media Studies Program for details. This course can also be used for Independent Study. 

MEDST 790. Thesis Hr. to be arranged. 3 cr.
Thesis advisement. Prereq.: Approval of program coordinator and thesis advisor.

MEDST 791. Thesis Research. Hr. to be arranged. 3 cr. Initial thesis research and development, either as a group seminar or with an individual advisor