Model curricula for journalism education for developing countries ...

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Pedagogical approach or method: The size of an undergraduate class is usually
large, and there is limited scope for teacher-student interaction, tutorials or
seminar-style instruction. Weeks 1 – 15 will comprise lectures, complemented with
audio-visual aids like film clippings, and all students are expected to take extensive
notes. While it is important to intersperse these classes with opportunities for
discussion and clarification of difficulties faced by the class with respect to certain
lectures, it is difficult to fit them in as part of the course work, given the time
constraint. The instructor, however, should be able to provide such opportunities to
students wherever possible, in the form of tutorial classes.
At the middle of the course, there will be an open-book written exam, when students
bring their notes to class and answer questions related to the classroom lectures.
There will be another open-book written exam at the end of the course. (An example
of the kind of question in such an exam for a journalism school in India would be:
What were the objections by Indian sociologists to Dalits (former Untouchables)
from India participating in the World Conference on Racism and Xenophobia in
Durban, South Africa, in August-September 2001) An open-book exam fulfils the
twin objectives of treating students like reporters who take extensive notes, while
also reducing the possibility of plagiarism. Every fourth class or so will comprise
of a group analysis of a specific text (a maximum of 12 students in each group).
While analysing the text, each group should show their awareness of contemporary
socio-political and economic developments in the region in question. For the sake of
parity, each group will be handed the text only two weeks prior to their presentation.
Number of hours per week: 2 hours (weeks 1 – 15: lecture mode; group text and
news analysis classes, two open-book exams.)
Required and recommended texts and/or equipment
The texts for which instructors could substitute texts from their own country or
region are marked with an asterisk. Apart from these texts, the instructor may use
film clippings as a complementary educational tool.
For the Instructor:
• Ahmed, Akbar S., Postmodernism and Islam—predicament and promise,
Routledge, 1992.
•*Ahmed, Imtiaz, Ghosh, Partha S. and Reifeld, Helmut, eds., Pluralism and
equality—values in Indian society and politics, Sage Publications, 2000.
• Anderson, Benedict, Imagined Communities, Verso, 1983, Revised edition, 1991.
• Banton, Michael, Racial Theories, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
•*Basu, Tapan, et al, Khaki shorts and saffron flags, Orient Longman, 1993.
• Bayly, Susan, Caste, society and politics in India – from the eighteenth century to
the modern age, The New Cambridge History of India series, Cambridge University