Question on grad school courses

[PennLady]

I have a story in mind, complete with plot bunny. What I would like to know is -- is it possible/reasonable/feasible that there would be a graduate level course in muckraking, and/or 1920s (30s?) American journalism? For an English or US History grad student, perhaps?

I know I'm being specific, but there is a reason for that.

I myself went to grad school, but got my degree in Russian Area Studies. Muckraking was to say the least, frowned upon by ye olde USSR.

 

[talismania]

Did you consider Journalism? I can see a professor of in that discipline having a course on a history of ethics in journalism, or on journalism as a cultural force that would include or center on muckraking. I've seen some pretty interesting and very specific courses available at the Annenberg School for Communication at Penn. Might be worth a look.

 

[sr71plt]

Muckraking in American media started with Thomas Jefferson and the establishment of a U.S. press (see Jeffrey L. Pasley's The Tyranny of Printers: Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic), and, yes, it could be a graduate course title in either Journalism or American History.

 

[PennLady]

Thanks. I figured there was, but asking here seemed easier than trying to navigate a grad school course guide.

No, I was never interested in studying journalism or US History myself. The plot bunny originates with an incident I had in high school, but I don't want to set the story in high school. I generally dislike stories with 18yo (or so) protagonists. Aside from the age, I think other details should translate okay to college or grad school.

Thanks again!

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Or sociology, depending on the approach you take. There are sociologists who devote their lives to the study of communication and its relationship with culture. (A course I took in sociology devoted a good chunk of its syllabus to how a certain group of people are portrayed in the media, for example.)

 

[PennLady]

Or sociology, depending on the approach you take. There are sociologists who devote their lives to the study of communication and its relationship with culture. (A course I took in sociology devoted a good chunk of its syllabus to how a certain group of people are portrayed in the media, for example.)

Haha, my cousin took a course and did paper on Philly sports fans and how they're portrayed in the media and some related stuff. Bet that was fun. Me, I remember doing a paper on Soviet Foreign Policy in the Middle East after (?) the Seven-Days War. Wa hoo. Although that was probably a bit more interesting than one I did in undergrad, which I titled (I kid you not) "On the Transboundary Release of Radioactive Materials."

For this story, it only matters (so far) that the course in question is about muckraking. I think the character involved will be studying either English or Journalism.

None of this, btw, is helping me on my current hockey story. Pffft.

 

[sr71plt]

Many universities are broadening out what were once journalism schools to schools of communication. It would certainly be a good course in one of those schools.

 

[yuna1981]

Sounds like a fun US History seminar!

 

[OzoneRed]

I have a story in mind, complete with plot bunny. What I would like to know is -- is it possible/reasonable/feasible that there would be a graduate level course in muckraking, and/or 1920s (30s?) American journalism? For an English or US History grad student, perhaps?

I know I'm being specific, but there is a reason for that.

I myself went to grad school, but got my degree in Russian Area Studies. Muckraking was to say the least, frowned upon by ye olde USSR.

Check out the websites of some major universities. It seems reasonable that they'd list the courses they offer.

 

[PennLady]

Check out the websites of some major universities. It seems reasonable that they'd list the courses they offer.

Indeed it does, but honestly, asking here was faster. and more conversational.