hello and welcome to 2168 black popular culture today my name is Amo uh Professor dat to you um very excited and uh happy to have all of you on board uh and looking forward to this semester as I understand there's uh some of you who have had the pleasure of teaching before so welcome welcome to the classroom uh again and uh there's a whole lot of you who I haven't had the pleasure and the Good Fortune of teaching before this so again uh warmest welcome to everyone and looking forward to this semester um this is a fairly new course uh introduced in the department so um I had the privilege and the Good Fortune of Designing this course uh last year and um this is the second year that the course is running so um yeah still very fairly new and uh again excited to be teaching it again um today's lecture is essentially an introduction it's not a lecture it's an introduction where we sort of ease into um the course um my intention throughout the course is that um I ensure that I am reaching to you as accessibly as possible and I make this um learning experience for you meaningful and generative I understand that you know since this is asynchronous um it can be out isolating and it it might be slightly difficult as you um engage this course initially but I promise you that um I will try very hard to make sure that you know you can still feel a part of a community as we're engaging the course together um so uh yes uh today my intention is to sort of take you through the course outline document um we will look at the expectations and guidelines of the course together and sort of just so that you get a sense of what this course is and what you will expect and what is expected of you in the next few months um okay so let's begin I will be sharing my screen that should work hopefully uh yes I think you should be able to see what uh I'm sharing um excellent so um black popular culture is concerned with pleasure enjoyment and amusement and is expressed through aesthetic codes and genres I'm just reading the course description in this course we will draw on from literature film television and music and examine examples of popular culture created by and for black individuals to consider black cultural values beliefs experiences and social institutions this course aims to explore black narratives in popular culture that dismantles interrogate and rewrite normative representations so again um this course is essentially rooted in cultural studies where we will look at these um cultural products that make and remake uh black representation in media and cultural studies and literature so um again uh very excited to be teaching this again I should stop saying it guys but I folks I am excited so um okay uh we have three wonderful teaching assistants uh this semester um the three of them go by the pronounce she um and her um I also should mention that my pronouns are also she and her um sorry about forgetting to mention it earlier so here's all the information about uh your three is um as you already know the course is divided into groups so I'm not sure if you know you're a lot of there's a lot of you in this course which is excellent my God it's fantastic um but to sort of organize the course better especially in this virtual setting um we've decided to have groups and a group leader for each group so each of your t will be uh your a group leader for a certain group so the groups are divided uh based on last names so say if your last name starts from C you will be in group one so the first group is from last names a to f a r the second group is from last names starting from FAS s to last names n a and then the third group is n D2 Z said um again um this is just so that we make the course structure better um the T offic hours have already been posted on Al you should be able to access it I also Sort of hope to you know walk you through bright space briefly in this lecture so we'll do that um each of your emails uh or any emails that you have any questions that you have about a specific specific thing in the course you're very welcome to send it to me however um it is preferred and encouraged that you send it to your respective group leader as you need to make sure that you make have a rapport with them and as they will also be teaching uh sorry my bad they will also be grading um most of your work I will I will come to that however um yes if you have concerns uh questions any any any sort of thoughts try to um reach out to your group leader first so your group leader should be your first point of contact and then you're very welcome to uh email me um okay so of course since this course is uh asynchronous it is expected that you have a stable internet connection and access to a laptop um there are no required texts that need to be purchased so um all readings uh have already been posted and you can access them through po readings we also have viewings uh for this course so the viewings can either be accessed on this document the course outline which has been posted uh on bright space or I will be posting um uh lectures every week so you will have well lectures in the weekly content every week so you you will have access to the viewings and readings in that lecture sort of that week's material as well however yes this document is essentially where you will access all your uh course viewings um audio and other uh visual Library platforms are what Aid our uh viewings experience so everything's right here in this document um yes this course is asynchronous but does not mean that you have access to the entire course as it has been mentioned every uh week every Wednesday you will have um access to that week's content so um again not you don't have access to the entire course obviously uh it is like you know let's use the word normal I I don't like that word but let's try to use quote unquote this is an attempt to make this course quote unquote normal where um you know it feels like this is a scheduled day where I will be engaging my lecture uh to win with you guys so uh yeah uh every Wednesday you should have access to that week's content including the readings viewings and the lecture as well as my lecture notes so I have uh lecture slides uh which I will also be posting posting for your um access um absolutely uh I'm saying absolutely as if you know what I said sorry I I read it in my mind wow uh you can um uh you know use your discretion to access the course uh but again it's your it is your responsibility to make sure you are completing your responsibilities and meeting all your uh commitments okay assessments um the first assessment that you have is the syllabus quiz which will be an open book quiz about the syllabus and the course so when you go to the when you see the document I have mentioned it further but I will still mention it it is essentially a quiz on the course outline and today's lecture where I am talking about the course outline so um again 20 Questions very basic multiple choice or true or false questions where you know you'll be tested on your understanding of what has been said to you in today's lecture or and or you know um the basic things mentioned in the course outline so very very easy Mark so um again it's it it is a practice to ensure that you know you are fully prepared and equipped to um sort of dive into the course material and you have all the basic information that is required um again you will be able to access the quiz uh tomorrow Jan 10th um at 9:00 a. m. and you um have access until Jan 19th so it's a 20 minute quiz but it will be available to you until this time there are no remakes or redos um for this quiz um and yeah just ensure that you take it during this window um more information on it as we progress into the document next you have your midterm exams which also will be multiple choice uh true or false questions 25% for the midterm exam so it is a huge chunk of your uh uh weightage in uh the entire assessment so please ensure that you are doing Justice in your preparation for them um the two main assessments writing assessments that we have are the short analysis um so this is not an essay based course it is an exam based course hence you do not have research essays or final essays however since um you know we need to also ensure that uh we're engaging the content in the most meaningful way possible and I am interested in seeing what you you make of what I've have been teaching because as I'm sure you understand I'm essentially talking to a screen this whole time um so what I want to know um sorry there's something weird on my screen that I need to get out I don't know how to yep okay um so yes I need to I I'm interested and I'm curious in seeing uh what you make of what has been said to you so it these will be 500 to 600w uh short uh response papers or short analysis um where you know you'll be writing on specific you know what I will talk about that more in detail as we go further because doesn't make sense to talk about it now anyway uh 20% for each of the short analysis so again 40% of your poll Mark um the final exam will be in some point in uh April uh they will be reflection based questions and um they will primarily test you on the readings so just something that you should know right off the bad that whenever you were you know you were uh reading uh the critical readings for that week make sure that you're making notes or you know you're you're reading it in a way that you will be able to return to it and remember um okay so again I will be talking about the Assessments in detail so please please bear with me um the grading criteria is right here uh this is the grading criteria as per the department um I understand that some of you are from The Sciences and the grading criteria is very different but this is an Arts and Humanities course so you have to remember that um it is very very rare to have a 90 so an 80 and up is usually um expressed for an above average um work anyway this is the uh rubric in grading criteria right here as per the department I also have created a grading rubric specifically for the short analysis assignments so I will also um go through that if we have the time today if we don't you have access to that grading rubric in um the bright space okay so um like I said we're talking further about the assessments now um if you go to Bright space you will see that you have a detailed document on each assessment that I have posted so make sure that you access these documents and understand in detail what the expect expectations are um again this is just to Aid you and to make sure that there is Clarity in the guidelines and expectations so that there's no questions that you would have or there's less questions that you would have and you would know clearly what is expected um again syllabus quiz open book um you it's due by Sunday Jan 19th at 11:59 p.
m. um you will find it in the tests and quizzes section uh of um our bright space I will again walk you through the bright space uh course shell so I'll show it to you um however know that you know even if it is available since it will be available since Jan 10th once you start the quiz once you hit start on your computer you will only have 20 minutes so your timer will start running so just make sure of that um um again there's no extensions on this assignment and no redos and uh remakes because as you understand there's a Long window for a very very short brief assignment so um easy Mark please make sure that you do justice to it okay the main uh primary thing that I want to discuss with you today so your short analysis asids um they are your Clos reading of of either a scene or a clip from one of the viewings so any viewings that we've had either a scene or a clip you know from one of the movies or music videos You present a clause reading of that scene or clip or you pick a quote from one of the critical readings from that week this will be your Clos reading assignment of 500 to 600 words called short analysis I hope I'm being clear right now uh your short analysis one will be on designated weeks so this is week one I am delivering this lecture to you introduction is week one week two onwards next week onwards I will be posting um you know um each content each week uh on Wednesday right so as you see here uh the dates are also from Wednesday to Tuesday so our our understanding of the weeks because of how the course is framed are from Wednesday to Tuesday um in the first week we talk about black looks in popular culture I will discuss this a little further once we uh uh reach the section where we talking about the syllabus but I want you to understand that when the short analysis one is due you will be working only on any of week two three four or five topics so you can either pick a viewing from week two 3 four or five or you can pick a quote from the reading in week 2 3 4 and five you are not supposed to um I mean you don't have access to the Future weeks so I'm guessing you won't working on any of them uh but at the same time none of the uh assignments should be none of the assignments should be on anything that is outside from the syllabus the quote that you pick has to be from the critical readings that are in the syllabus and the viewings or uh that you pick the scene or clip from the viewings that you pick also must be from the assign weeks of the syllabus want to make it very clear if it's not you will receive a 10% penalty on your resubmission um okay so short analysis 2 then we'll be on weeks 8 9 10 11 so here you see once week five is done your short analysis is due on Feb 11 which is the Tuesday of week week 5 at 11:59 p. m.
the best way to go about it is since I will keep the assignment tab open so once I've posted next week's content the assignment tab for short analysis one will be open so as in when the weeks go by say if you choose to work on week three make sure that you know you're doing it right after week three and posting uh or submitting your um assignment so that you're not keeping it towards the I mean I do not want to tell you how to work you can do uh what works best for you but this is so that you have the option to submit it as the weeks go by so you can submit it you know if you just want to work on uh week two you can submit it um after week two and you know you're done with short analysis one um well you're still being tested on the rest I hope you know that uh in the exam but this is just so that you understand short analysis and how to sort of structure yourself with it um okay so week five is the point before the midterm so in week six we have the midterm week seven is the reading week so we've divided the course into sections essentially right so your first section is on short analysis one you write your midterm you go for your reading break you come back and we are talking about the second section of the course which will be on uh what you write your short analysis on um okay so again very clear short analysis 2 has to be week 8 9 10 or 11 any of these four weeks right and again you can do the thing where once the week is done you submit um your assignment based on the week same uh rules apply either a scene or a clip the reason I say scene or a clip scene is essentially from a movie and clip is essentially from a music video or a you know a YouTube video something like that so if it's you know if it's a music video we say we doing uh uh this is America music video right so if you choose a little short clip from that video you are you know choosing a clip but if it's a scene from a film it's a scene so any snippet of a viewing or a quote from a critical reading is what you will base your um uh short analysis on also whichever quote you're using to analyze or whichever uh clip or scene you're using to analyze make sure that you mention the quote and then you start your analysis and make sure you provide the timestamps for the scene and then you start the analysis okay there is is a detailed document on right space as mentioned earlier that document has this information for you where I'm asking you of these specific steps this is a very basic and in my opinion a very um straightforward assignment so the reason I have all these you know resources for you is so that it helps you it's not to overwhelm you it's not to confuse you but so that you know if you need extra guidelines if you want to make sure oh how do I about this in detail you have those um resources available at your disposal okay um short analysis 2 will be due March 25th so this is essentially before you're final you're done with both short analysis um midterm exam okay sorry before midterm like I've mentioned you're welcome to submit your short analysis before the deadline during their respective weeks so even if you I mean say you submit something from week two and week three that's fine it's not that you have to submit in respectively this is to say that you can submit it whenever in that window okay midterm exam 25% huge chunk of your Mark um there will be multiple choice or true or false questions based on this uh these weeks so weeks 2 to 5 um again this is because um am I like lagging sorry I thought my video Yeah froze sorry about that um so your midterm will be multiple choice questions or true or false in tested on these weeks um because this is right before your midterm and your reading uh break so yep you will have the a lot of time um you have about 6 days to take the midterm so 2 hours uh for your midterm 6 days to take it again same rules once you start the timer the timer starts running um so make sure of the dates the time and plan well again you have a document on midterm available if you want to make sure to engage more information about it um again multiple choice questions true or false that's all no response questions about midterms um your midterm and your syllabus quiz will be graded by me entirely so all your syllabus quizzes and your midterm exams will be created by me your both your short analysis short analysis one short analysis 2 and your final exam will be graded by your group leader so say if you're in group two your group two leader will grade your short analysis so if you're in group two Manas will be grading your short analysis Anis if you in group three uh shambu will be creating your short analysis and if you are in group one Victoria will be creating your short analysis and uh final exams so okay uh final exams 30% um I will post a document or a video at you know closer to the final exam where I I will explain to you in detail how to prepare and what to expect in your final exam um they will the exam will essentially be divided in part A B and C um and you will have internal options and they will be reflection based uh and response-based questions so no multiple choice no true or false they will be subjective response-based questions um okay so one thing that I do want to make sure that you know is this course does not permit the use of AI in any form in chat GPT or any other um tools um it's strictly prohibited please know that uh you can trust yourself in writing um your analysis in your own words and not rely on AI as an external tool I hope you you know you feel comfortable um just using your words well there's no other option you cannot use AI uh so again just make sure that you know you are feeling I mean it's easier said than done but I assure you that you're capable of writing these words on your own whether you believe it or not um if AI is suspected if any of your Tas um suspect AI they will inform me and once I have been informed I will be asking you or of research uh notes research drafts anything that any drafts that you have of your preparation for the essay essay as an sa your short analysis um and make sure that you have proof to back your claims up if you if AI is suspected so this will essentially prove that you know you worked on this uh it was a process and you did not use artificial intelligence um so this has been told to you now so please make sure that you have these research notes and Essay outlines available um again um in in the unlikely event of concerns being raised students may be asked to produce their material so again just um make sure that you're able to produce um this material and if you're not able to then you know we will have to uh reach out to the department chair and umb's person and you know will lead to a fail on your mark so again make sure that you have stuff to prove that you're not using AI we're not going to suspect if you don't use it and if we suspected wrongly please prove us wrong um okay so email response time um please give us 24 hours to 48 hours to respond to your emails right um it's we receive a lot of emails so it's only fair that we have some time to um respond to your emails the working hours are from 9: to 5:00 p. m.
