CMCL-C 334: Current Topics in Communication and Culture
(Topic: Cross-Cultural Media Reception)
Class Number: 11385
Summer Session I

MTuWThF, 10:20 AM-11:35 AM, SY 0009


Instructor: Jasmine Trice
E-Mail: jntrice@indiana.edu
Office: Mottier Hall 250
Phone: 856-3549

•	Why did mid-western housewives go to see Brokeback Mountain
in droves?
•	Why does the Wu Tang Clan take their name and logo from
traditional Chinese culture?
•	Why do groups of young, straight Latino men in L.A. identify
with Morissey, a gay, Scottish pop star?
•	How does the popularity of Sex and the City in China affect
the behaviors of young, single Chinese women?
•	What is it about hip-hop that makes it so popular with
white, middle-class listeners?

These are the kinds of questions that this class on cross-cultural
media reception will address. Loosely defined, cross-cultural media
reception examines the reception of a text by an audience whose
identity falls outside the culture in which the text originated.
Using theories grounded in audience and reception studies, this
class will examine the ways that media like film and television
shape our identity, how viewers interpret these media to in ways
particular their own cultural contexts, and how texts function in
the everyday lives of their audiences. Students will have the choice
to research a case of cross-cultural media reception through
resources such as online fan sites and press coverage, conduct their
own ethnographic research, or make a film about a group of cross-
cultural media fans.