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CAS 175N – Persuasion and Propaganda

Students Teaching Students

In coordination with an undergraduate-run organization called Students Teaching Students, CAS department faculty members mentor exemplary students who develop and teach 1-credit courses on a variety of subjects that advance expertise in communication and its role in public life. This semester, Associate Teaching Professor Lori Bedell is supporting undergraduates Kara Miller (who was in Lori’s RCL course a few years back) and Jess Strait as they teach a course titled “Period Talk: The Impact of Stigma on the Menstrual Equity Movement.”
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CAS 175N – Persuasion and Propaganda

This course will explore the distinction—historically and theoretically— between propaganda and persuasion. In this course you will develop a more precise understanding of “propaganda” and the techniques of the propagandist.  Toward this end, we will study the history of propaganda, as well as contemporary cases of public advocacy that raise questions about the distinction between persuasion and propaganda.

Course Objectives

  • Students will develop critical skills necessary to distinguish between persuasion and propaganda as elements of civic life and social change.
  • Students will acquire a historical and theoretical understanding of the relationship between propaganda and persuasion.
  • Students will learn to recognize, describe, and evaluate propaganda in its most representative forms and contexts.