INSTRUCTIONS

Watch the below instructional videos after completing the reading. Then, scroll down to the bottom of the page for Portfolio - Part 1 and listening guidelines for the assigned media podcast. Try and complete all of the instructional materials before your scheduled discussion section this week, so you can bring some initial ideas to class to share.

Assigned reading
- Hall, Stewart. 1996. “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power.” In Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies, edited by Hall, Held, Hubert, and Thompson (see reading guidelines at bottom of previous page, for what to look for/ skim over from the reading).

Overview: This week's instructional videos are broken into two separate videos. The first offers some background information and a summary of the chapter by Stuart Hall along with a segment from a 1998 interview with Edward Said on his work "On Orientalism." The second video focuses more on Hall's conceptual framework, defining elements of the "West and the Rest Discourse" discussed in the reading and connecting them to outside examples.

Step 1. Watch Instructional Video #1: Background & Summary - Stuart Hall "West and the Rest: Discourse and Power"

Step 2. Watch Instructional Video 2. Discourse Analysis

RECOMMENDED MATERIALS

- - - Documentary “13th:” From Slave to Criminal with One Amendment. 2016. Directed by Ava DuVernay (segments included in video; full length film available on YouTube at:https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8)

Step 3. Complete Portfolio - Part 1

Instructions: Get out a notebook, tablet, or document to write your portfolio.
Label your portfolio: Date + Part (we will have two Parts for each meeting during summer session, one following asynchronous materials and another one given during our zoom meeting) .

Read the below prompt and then set a timer for 7-10 minutes. Free write any ideas that come to mind in response to any of the guiding questions.
Word count will vary but on average entries are 150 words or more for each prompt (see the portfolio assignment submission portal for additional guidelines and instructions).
Reminder: There are no "right" or "wrong" answers for portfolio entries. After watching the instructional video free write ideas that you recall and/or from your own perspective or experience. Be creative and connect ideas!

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Step 4. Listen to assigned media: Code Switch episode “Immigrant Nation” (33 mins; listen and access transcripts here)

Listening Guidelines:

As you listen to the podcast, try to conduct a discourse analysis of your own by identifying examples that help illustrate different elements of Stuart Hall's (1994) conceptual framework for the "West and the Rest Discourse."

The four main elements that make up discourse as a "conceptual tool" are covered in lecture video 2 along with outside examples from the 2016 documentary 13th directed by Ava DuVernay. The podcast episode is similar to the documentary in that it offers both commentary and concrete examples on US immigration, connecting historical processes to US policies and societal attitudes today.
Most of the examples discussed in the podcast can be discussed to illustrate multiple elements of Hall's conceptual framework at the same time.
- In other words, any given example might help illustrate a "discursive formation" of the "West and the Rest" over time as well as explain how such a discursive formation sustains a "regime of truth" shaping certain attitudes and actions.
- In fact, the more you practice discourse analysis it becomes easier to talk about all of the elements together, to explain the deep historical roots and societal implications of this powerful discourse.
To practice discourse analysis, it can help to first "tease out" the different elements using the same example. To do so, revisit the above "Helpful questions to ask" consider different insights the elements of the framework offer as a conceptual lens. Again - there is no "right" or "wrong" answer!

TIP: You will be asked to discuss specific examples from the podcast for our first discussion board in detail. Save a copy of the transcript to annotate as you listen and/or note timestamps, so you can return to discuss segments that stand out to you in more detail later on.

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