Course Text Used
- “A Tangle of Discourses” by Rebecca Raby, which explores the ways in which teens are defined by what she calls “discourses” of society. In her research, she describes the discourses by names: The Storm, Becoming, At-risk, Social Problem and Pleasurable Consumption. Throughout the studies, she interviews various girls to see how these discourses are taken for fact and thus dismissed. Raby is clear to note that these are not traits she is advocating are inherent to teenagers but rather that these are traits that can be found in the discourse surrounding adolescence.
- “Media and Ideology” by David Croteau argues that ideology is passed on to society by portrayals of dominant hegemonic ideals in popular culture and how it’s often portrayed as fact.
- "Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us” by Linda Christensen urges its readers to begin to see what she describes as “secret education” that we often fail to see in the media.
- Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence: Random School Shootings, 1982-2001 by Michael S. Kimmel and Matthew Mahler. This text argues that the discourse around particular types of violence, particularly school shootings, should center around White masculinity instead of attempting to make mental health, bullying, etc the center.
- Glee, the popular teen show on the FOX Network about a group of high school students coming together when a show choir club is formed at their school.
- Media Matters is one of the course assumptions, which argues that media plays a role in the media that we consume and how it’s not just another form of entertainment.
- Youth is a Culturally Constructed Category, which explores the idea that youth is a category that can be changed over time.
- And the third course assumption, Teenagers are Not Some Alien Life Form is based on the idea of how often teenagers are “othered” and portrayed as an otherworldly species not only by the way that they act, but also by the way that they speak.