This graduate seminar asks students to engage the varied literature on citizenship in media and cultural studies. Readings include some foundational texts in political theory as well as works by such scholars as Michel Foucault, Toby Miller, Aiwa Ong, Nikolas Rose, Meghan Morris, Chantal Mouffe, Laurie Ouellette, Micki McGee and Lisa Duggan Our orientation within this material is evaluative with respect to (at least two) questions: How can we understand media and culture as arenas for the reproduction of forms of civic discourse and paradigms of the citizen/person. How do researchers, critics, activists and engaged intellectuals move from the macrolevel of theory (e.g. "governmentality"), populated by conceptual monoliths (e.g. the institution, the state, the corporation), to the messy and contradictory microworlds of practice and experience in which subjects and citizens make--and remake--themselves? We will focus on the ways that civic discourse and cultural discourse enmesh across a range of sites, including media texts and realms of production, distribution, and reception. Screenings and assignments emphasize methods and practices in applying theories of media citizenship to visual culture, including short exercises in archival research designed to develop skills in working with primary sources.