College and University Courses

The Center has commissioned leading scholars and educators to create materials for self-study or classroom courses on topics of visual art, music, film, poetry, and popular culture. Each course includes a semester’s worth of readings, discussions, and assignments. Are you ready to learn? Or would you like to take these materials and use them at your school?

The courses are by: Laura Allred Hurtado, Jeremy Grimshaw, Lance Larsen, Eowyn Wilcox McComb, Mason Kamana Allred, Kimberly Johnson, and April Makgoeng.

April Makgoeng April Makgoeng

Religion, Media & Culture: An Introductory Survey

By April Makgoeng

What role does media play in the construction of religious identity in America? Inspired by the Harvard Religious Literacy Initiative (RLI), this course considers how journalism, film, television, and social media influence American perceptions of religion. Based on America’s significant daily consumption of screen content, media "may well be the primary site where Americans encounter other religions.”[1] For this reason, American audiences need be equipped to critically analyze religious representations in the media. Using a cultural studies approach introduced by Stuart Hall, this class will examine media producers, text, and audiences. What are the motivations, intentions, and backgrounds of the producers and publishers? Do the media narratives, themes, and characters reinforce religious stereotypes or challenge them? How are religious complexities, controversies, and sacred beliefs portrayed? Do audiences accept or reject the intended message? As a case study, this class will survey a range of media produced about, by, and/or for Mormons. 

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