“Teaching the 2012 U.S. Election,” Teaching Media 1(1): 2012.
The Teaching Media editorial board announces our first call for a curated collection of teaching materials. Our first issue focuses on the intersection of media and the 2012 U.S. elections. Teaching Media is dedicated to promoting a collaborative exchange and dialogue between media studies scholars about contemporary approaches to teaching and critically engaging with multi-modal media.
Call for Proposals:
This year we have been witnessing the outcome of some of the most partisan vitriol, drastic laws, and sociocultural shifts within political campaigns and elections. The Citizens United v. FEC decision helped spawn the most expensive presidential election to date and many states started to pass and implement voter-ID laws. The ways in which these legal, social and political issues have intersected with media is multifaceted. Teaching Media is seeking teaching material and models that help students understand this continually shifting political landscape.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
– Campaign financing [Citizens United v. FEC, Super PACs]
– Ballot initiatives and referendums
– Voter-ID laws
– Redistricting
– Candidate debates
– RNC & DNC speeches
– Election polls, predictions, statistics
– Partisan and comedy reporting [FOX News, CNN, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, etc.]
– The role of embedded journalists on the campaign trail
– Political advertisements, negative and attack ads
– Political feature films, biopics, documentaries, campaign shorts
– The role of social media in electoral politics
– Celebrity involvement in campaigns
– Citizen direct action and activism revolving around the campaign
– Identity politics
Teaching Media seeks 250-word summaries of teaching materials and models from a variety of pedagogical perspectives. The summary should include your general framework, a list of teaching materials and/or assignments in the unit, and a short explanation of why your approach is innovative. Please email all submissions, either as a word or PDF document, to [email protected]. The Teaching Media editorial board will choose three summaries and ask the submitters to expand upon their abstract as part of a curated space on our site. Those not chosen are encouraged to submit their materials to our common space.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Sunday September 30, 2012
As we hope for continuing discussions and exchange as well as contributions to Teaching Media we encourage you to register at http://teachingmedia.org/log-in/
Best,
Teaching Media editorial board
Jacquelyn Arcy
Mia Fischer
Melody Hoffmann
Kate Ranachan
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