Communication Studies
www.mun.ca/interdisciplinary/communications
Communication studies provides for a varied approach to issues of communication, media and information technologies past, present and future.
Our program is predicated on the understanding that, even as we create these technologies, we are shaped and conditioned by them. While studying a broad range of subjects from newspapers to the Internet, from books to videogames, our students will be grounded in a common theoretical base and will be trained to read media critically in both the large and small scales of the global and sociopolitical and the local and personal.
A degree in communications will train students to analyze media critically, focusing not only on what various media are, but also on the relationship of media to social power, personal and international relations, moral issues, cultural events, representational politics and the role of technology industries in society. Career opportunities for students pursuing communication studies include but are not limited to research (academic and business), public relations, advertising, education, consulting, human relations and management, telecommunications, broadcasting, the fine and performing arts, writing and publishing. Communication studies is also excellent preparation for students intending to pursue careers in law, journalism, film and politics
This inter-disciplinary Major program is offered to students for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. It is offered in conjunction with a major or a minor in a single discipline.
Sample first-year program for students interested in studying communication studies:
| Fall Semester | Winter Semester |
| Communication Studies 2000 | Communication Studies 2001 |
| English 1080 (or 1020) | English 1101, 1102, 1103 or 1110 (or 1021) |
| A course in a second language | A course in a second language |
| A research & writing course | A research & writing course |
| A numeracy/science course | A numeracy/science course |
| A course in minor subject | A course in minor subject |
Communications 2000
Critical Approaches to Popular Culture considers critical issues and approaches in the study of popular culture. It will explore the ways in which everyone is both a user of, and is used by, popular culture. A variety of critical approaches to studying popular culture will be examined: production, texts, audience and history.
Lectures: Three hours per week
Prerequisite: None
Communications 2001
Introduction to Communication Theory provides an introduction to theoretical approaches to organization, use and manipulation of language including semiotics, performativity, mass and group communications, sociolinguistics and interpersonal communication. We will examine notions of influence, rhetoric, social judgment, deception, subject formation, globalization and cultural hybridity within the field of communications.
Lectures: Three hours per week
Prerequisite: Communications 2000
