Journalism in the Era of Globalization and Trans-nationalism (10 ECTS)

Journalism in the Era of Globalization and Trans-nationalism is a 10 credit master course extending over one semester.

The course is open for master students enrolled in the Master Programme in Journalism, other master students in the Department of Media and Communication (UiO), the Master Programme in Global journalism (in cooperation with Örebro University) and the Joint Master Programme in Journalism (Nordplus Neighbour Network). Four of the student places are reserved for students from our partner institutions in the Nordplus Neighbour Network. It is recommended that the students have training and experience in journalism.  

Aims
The students are to:

• reach a deeper understanding of the processes of globalization and trans-nationalism and the challenges faced by journalism in this respect
• study critical research traditions related to Orientalism critique, theories of nation and nationality, migrancy and trans-nationalism
• study the journalistic traditions in the light of international and multicultural discourses
  analyze critically journalism in an international and multicultural context
  
• be  able to journalistically  represent people and phenomena better in an international and/or multicultural context
• develop the ability of journalistic self-reflection, based on critical discussions of theories offered and on encounters with new environments.

Course content
The course will draw upon post-colonial theories of globalization and representation of the distant "Other". Post-colonial studies (PCS) deal with the effects of colonization on cultures and societies, and although the term was not applied in the late 1970s, when Edward Said published his main d’ouevre Orientalism, his works may be said to fall under the umbrella of PCS. There have been discussions as to whether these studies are linked to the traditional European colonial powers and the representations (in journalism and literature) influenced by this period – or whether today’s world allows for a more free definition (Are we past the era of colonialism? East Timor became independent in 2002.) in which colonialism becomes a trans-historical phenomenon or whether terms like neo-colonialism need to be included in the scope of studies.

The course will further investigate connections between media representation of minorities in the West and representation of non-western continents. The students will work with scholars like Edward Said (Orientalism critique), Homi Bhabha (Nation and Narration) and several others to investigate ways in which the media constitute national and other (trans-national) identities and belongings, images of the presumed Others – and self-images of an imagined “we”.

Organization of classes and working methods
The course will be based on two week-long gatherings at Oslo University College, which includes lectures, discussions and group-work (analysis of journalistic work). All curriculum as well as lectures will be in English. 

Assessment
The students may choose one of the following two forms of assessment, both term papers:

 a)       an analytic, theory-based paper investigating a limited media output where trans-nationality and/or globalization comes into play (appr. 15 pp)

b)      a reportage in the field of trans-nationality: either abroad or in Norway (print: 5-6 pp plus photos, radio: 7-8 minutes, TV: 4 minutes), followed by a reflection paper discussing the textual material on a theoretical level helped by the syllabus

The term papers may be written in Norwegian or English. All term papers will be assessed by an evaluation committee consisting of both an internal and an external examiner. The term papers will be marked according to a graded scale from A to F, where A to E indicate a pass and F indicates a fail.