Media, Politics and Cultural Diaspora

This subject is not offered in 2011.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject looks at the study of diaspora in a historical context from the histories of dispersion and migration, to model minority discourses, and the forces of globalisation/internationalisation. The subject emphasises the changing meanings of the space, place and position of "home" as they relate to the politics of identity and the mobility of location. Through the interfaces of race, class, gender and sexuality, the cultural productions of diasporic communities are examined as sites of resistance and new desires of belonging. The subject asks students to focus on new technologies, such as cable and minority television, transnational cinema, and the computer network, to explore the relationship between technology and media as diasporic tools for cultural maintenance and negotiation.

• understand the study of diaspora in a historical context, beginning with the histories of dispersion and migration, to model minority discourses, and the forces of globalised diasporic cultural studies position;
• comprehend diaspora and the politics of identity and location;
• be familiar with contemporary diasporic technologies (the Internet, Third Cinema, cable and minority television, transnational media, Hong Kong Cinema) as tools for cultural negotiation and maintenance; and
• be able to recognise and analyse diasporic strategies and sites of cultural memories and resistance.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• have advanced research and analytic skills;
• develop critical and ethical self-awareness; and
• have the ability to develop and communicate effective arguments in both oral and written form.