Created by Maria Sachiko Cecire, Director of Experimental Humanities and Assistant Professor of Literature, Bard College.
About the theme
As long as there have been new communications technologies, people have worried about how media can control our thinking and even alter the nature of how we experience being human. Today some researchers and journalists warn that our Internet culture may be making us less thoughtful, lonelier people, even as governments push for greater technological literacy and universal connectivity. But as early as Plato’s Phaedrus (c. 370 BC) we see an argument against the dangers of writing, because of the way that it can encourage forgetfulness and replace true understanding with stored words.
How do media shape individuals and influence whole societies? The three books in this series focus on the stories of young people who learn to see the structures of power that underlie the mass entertainment and information industries in their worlds, and who use this knowledge to resist unjust and oppressive systems. At the same time, the books raise essential questions about where our thoughts, ideas, and very sense of self come from. How much are our identities molded by outside interests? How can we become aware of our media environment when we are immersed in it? How can we use media to improve our circumstances and those of others? Continue reading about this theme.
Reading List
- FEED by MT Anderson
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
Programming Materials
- Essay
- Discussion questions
- Related reading list
- Certificate of achievement (for participants)
- Certificate of appreciation (for partners and supporters)