Category Archives: IMA Electives

All courses that count as IMA Major Electives

Crime, Violence and Media (MCC-UE 9012)

Debates about the role of crime in the media have been among the most sustained and divisive in the field of communications, and they are dependent on a foundation of equally divisive debates about “media influence.” This course will broaden this discussion to consider the culture of crime in relation to conventions of news and entertainment in the mass media, and its larger social and political context. Topics will include crime reporting, the role of place in crime stories, the aesthetics of crime, moral panics and fears, crime and consumer culture, and the social construction of different kinds of crimes and criminals.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


MCC-UE 9012-000 (12446)01/26/2023 – 05/05/2023 Wed1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at NYU Paris (Global)Instructed by Wallace, Aurora

Cultural Memory (MCC-UE 1413)

This course examines how cultural memory is enacted through visual culture in a comparative global context. It looks at the rise of a memory culture over the last few decades, in particular in the United States, Europe & Latin America, & how this engagement with memory demonstrates how the politics of memory can reveal aspects of nationalism & national identity, ethnic conflict & strife, the legacies of state terrorism, & the deployment of memory as a means for further continued conflict.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


MCC-UE 1413-000 (8117)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Mon,Wed12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by De Silva, Weligama

Social Media Practicum (MCC-UE 1032)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

In this workshop-based course, students will become well versed in contemporary debates on social media and its impact on self and society, share their own experiences and observations in this area, design an original research project (using methods such as discourse analysis, virtual ethnography, and interviewing), and write a long-form analysis paper.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Disability, Technology and media (MCC-UE 1026)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon

This course examines the significance of technology to the definition and experience of disability; the relationship between disability and new media; the politics of representation; and debates between disability studies and media studies. Topics include biomedical technology; “assistive technology”; cyborgs and prostheses as fact and metaphor; inclusive architecture and design; visual rhetorics of disability in film and photography; staring and other practices of looking; medical and counter-medical performance; media advocacy, tactical media, and direct action.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Cultural History of The Screen: (MCC-UE 1347)

Whether large, small, wide, high-definition, public, personal, shared, or handheld, screens are one of the most pervasive technologies in everyday life. From spaces of work to spaces of leisure, screens are sites for collaboration, performance, surveillance, and resistance. This course traces the cultural history of screens from a range of forms – from the panorama to the cinema, from the radar system to the television, and from the terminal to the mobile device – to provide a way of thinking about the development of the screen as simultaneously architectural, material, representational and computational.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2020)


MCC-UE 1347-000 (21568)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Lariviere, Jason

Communicating Gender and Identity (MCC-UE 1700)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

This course explores the ways people create, maintain, and augment the meaning of gender, developing insight into understanding gender ideology and the media representation of gender. The course examines how ideas about gender shape our communication practices, and how our practices of communication produce gender.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Gender, Sex and The Global (MCC-UE 1407)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

This course examines how globalization impacts the construction of gender and sexuality. Through discussions of contemporary issues in various global sites, the course addresses the politics of gender as it is shaped by trans-border flows of media, people and cultural products.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media and Globalization (MCC-UE 1300)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

This course examines the broad range of activities associated with the globalization of media production, distribution, and reception. Issues include: the relationship between local and national identities and the emergence of a ’global culture’ and the impact of technological innovations on the media themselves and their use and reception in a variety of settings.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Latino Media (MCC-UE 1022)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue,Thu

This course examines the production, representation and cultural meaning of Latino media in the U.S. Provides a general survey of Latino media in the U.S. with particular focus on the cultures of production of Spanish and English language television, radio, film, advertising, newspapers, magazines and internet-based media.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Media and Migration (MCC-UE 1011)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

The course examines the role of media in the lives and cultures of transnational immigrant communities. Using a comparative framework and readings drawn from interdisciplinary sources, the course explores how media practices and media representations define and enable new conceptions and practices of national belonging, identity and culture in the context of global migration.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Crime, Violence & Media (MCC-UE 1012)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Mon,Wed

The cultural context of crime in relation to conventions of news and entertainment in the mass media. Topics include competing theories of criminogenic behavior, news conventions and crime reporting, the aesthetics and representation of crime in the media, the role of place in crime stories, moral panics and fears, crime and consumer culture, and the social construction of different kinds of crimes and criminals.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Video Game Economies (MCC-UE 1008)

The course approaches video games through the lens of political economy. This means examining games foremost as commodities, transactional goods through which various modes of economic life occur. This course is designed to introduce students to the structure and economics of the game industry since its emergence in the 1970s, particularly across the United States, China, and Japan. Special attention is brought to the dramatic industry changes catalyzed by digital distribution, mobile gaming, live streaming, and other contemporary developments.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2025)


MCC-UE 1008-000 (8037)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Fri11:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Nooney, Laine

Censorship in American Culture (MCC-UE 1010)

An upper level course on the topic of censorship in American culture, from the late 19th century to the present. The course explores many of the areas where debates about obscenity and censorship have been urgently contested, from discussion bout birth control, to literature, film, theatre, art galleries and history museums, to public sidewalks, lecture halls, and the internet. The goal is for the students to have an enhanced understanding of the historical contexts in which important cultural and legal struggles over censorship have taken place, and to bring that understanding to bear on contemporary debates about the arts, sexuality, national security, media technology, privacy, and government involvement in the marketplace of ideas and images.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2023)


MCC-UE 1010-000 (22145)01/23/2023 – 05/08/2023 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Gary, Brett

Introduction to Media Studies (MCC-UE 1)

Introduces students to the study of media, culture, and communication. The course surveys models, theories, and analytical perspectives that form the basis of study in the major. Topics include dialogue, discourse, mass and interpersonal communication, political economy, language, subject-formation, critical theory, experience, and reception.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2023)


MCC-UE 1-000 (11261)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue,Thu9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Rajagopal, Arvind


MCC-UE 1-000 (11262)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Yates, Katie Lane


MCC-UE 1-000 (11263)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Yates, Katie Lane


MCC-UE 1-000 (11264)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Hytower, Courtney


MCC-UE 1-000 (11265)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Hytower, Courtney


MCC-UE 1-000 (11266)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ainomugisha, Mary


MCC-UE 1-000 (11267)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ainomugisha, Mary


MCC-UE 1-000 (11268)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ọládélé, Noah


MCC-UE 1-000 (11269)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Ọládélé, Noah


MCC-UE 1-000 (11270)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Cilman, Eva


MCC-UE 1-000 (11271)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Cilman, Eva


MCC-UE 1-000 (11272)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Procter, Alice


MCC-UE 1-000 (11273)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Procter, Alice


MCC-UE 1-000 (11302)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Fattaleh, Nadine


MCC-UE 1-000 (11303)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Fri2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Fattaleh, Nadine


MCC-UE 1-000 (11615)09/05/2023 – 12/15/2023 Tue,Thu11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Brooklyn CampusInstructed by Fotsch, Paul

Methods in Media Studies (MCC-UE 14)

Introduces students to several methods of analyzing the content, production, and contexts of media in society. Students explore the basic approaches of textual analysis, political economy, and ethnography. Students adopt, adapt and employ these methods in their own analyses, survey and data collection, and ethnographies. Students create their work by means of digitally mediated image annotation and manipulation, data collection and visualization, and audio/video production.

Media, Culture & Communication (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks

Visual Language and Storytelling: Visual Storytelling Through the Ages (OART-UT 290)

An overview of the development of visual storytelling throughout history. From the first creation of early hand drawn cave paintings to modern film production, all the essential elements of visual representation, visual imagery, visual grammar, and visual storytelling are explored. Lectures introduce and explain a variety of methods used to capture a visual image and how visual imagery, both with and without words, is used to convey meaning. Assignments are given for students to create their own visual imagery using these several different artistic formats. In class discussions then analyze the audience reception of the student’s work. The essential nature of visual storytelling is examined by analyzing how images collide to create new meaning, how a multiplicity of visual images are organized into a grammatical system, and how this system is managed in order to tell a visual story. The course examines how the basic tools of traditional narrative storytelling are also used in purely visual storytelling – to create a secondary world and to maintain a suspension of disbelief in order to inform, entertain, and affect the audience.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Fall 2020)


OART-UT 290-000 (21135)09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Tue9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by


OART-UT 290-000 (21136)09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Thu9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by

Art and Social Change (OART-UT 1018)

Credits: 4
Duration: 15 Weeks
Dates: Tue

This course challenges us to foster a tactile understanding of the relationship between art and social change. How do artists address social issues? Can art transform lives? How can art serve as a force for encouraging ethical dialogue and action within the public sphere? How do we make our ideas and revelations actually matter within our collective place and space? To better facilitate our understanding of this relationship, and in an effort to get inside these key questions and others, this course will unfold in two parts. Part I (Conversations on Art and Social Change) will be run as an interactive seminar in which we will explore how the desire to change the world has led some artists to align themselves with wider social movements. Through lectures, discussions and presentations, we will set about to engage ourselves with the work of contemporary artists who have addressed issues related to the environment, racial and cultural identity, human rights, healthcare, and social justice. We will assume that understanding the work of others is necessary if we are to appreciate the potentiality of our own impact on the world. Part II of this course (A Collective Gesture Toward) will entail challenging ourselves to participate more fully in our immediate surroundings vis-à-vis the development and implementation of a work (or works) of art.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Live Video Performance Art (OART-UT 567)

This course will combine a history of video art and experimental film with practical training in the use of live video performance art technology. Students will explore new ways to create and edit films and videos using VJ software, projections, and multi-channel video surfaces. Workshops will demonstrate concepts and software that can be integrated into the creative process of video performance art and video art installations. COURSE OBJECTIVES At the completion of this course, the student will be able to: Draw inspiration from the recent history of incredible video and multi-media artists. Develop an understanding of audio and visual hardware used by VJ’s. Use live VJ software to manipulate digital media in real time to create Video Performance Art. Use Projection Mapping techniques to project video art onto 3D surfaces. Create original video performance art, video installations, and other performance pieces. Utilize skills to make video art in the professional market.

Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks

Sections (Spring 2022)


OART-UT 567-000 (23531)01/24/2022 – 05/09/2022 Wed6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Evening)at Washington SquareInstructed by Nova, Max

Urban Arts Workshop: New York (OART-UT 1925)

Urban Arts Workshop–New York is composed of lectures, presentations, screenings, readings, discussions, and visits from painters, photographers, filmmakers, writers, designers, architects, planners, restaurateurs, curators and critics designed to expose students to the key concepts and fundamental theories of urban studies, public art and the urban-inspired works of many great artists and writers based in New York City and around the world. Outside of class time, students will do readings, conduct research, watch movies, post reactions and do various assignments that engage the core course subject matter and themes. Each class will explore another form of urban art, including discussions about and encounters with graffiti, street photography, sculpture, installation art, architecture, music, dance, performance, theater, fashion, urban sound projects, large-scale projections, poetry, essays and short stories with an aim to understand how such art forms came into being and how they express a distinctly urban message to the inhabitants and visitors of New York City and cities across the planet. The instructor seeks to combine the critical and theoretical with the experiential and personal in order to lead students to a deeper and more fruitful relationship with cities, the arts and themselves. Further exploration will be conducted into the phenomenon of connectivity in the 21st century city providing a deeper perspective on globalism, the networked environment, and emerging technology’s role in the future of art, culture and urban living. Field trips may include: The Whitney, The High Line and Hudson Yards, Tiny Island, MoMA, Guggenheim, PS1, Museum of the City of New York, The New Museum, Transit Museum, Noguchi Museum, Governors Island and others based upon availability. Students will need a MetroCard for traveling around the city as well as approximately $50.00 to cover meals and museum tickets (this price varies depending on course itinerary).

Undergraduate