Photo Courtesy: Rowland Scherman
The School of Journalism and New Media is launching a new Journalism 350 course that takes a deep dive into the history and culture of the South through legendary songwriter Bob Dylan’s work.
The course — Bob Dylan and the South — is being offered during the spring semester at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursdays. Similar courses have been offered at other schools such as the University of Tulsa, Harvard University and Boston University.
Ronnie “RJ” Morgan, an associate instructional professor of journalism and director of the Mississippi Scholastic Press Association, will teach the class.
“I hope that students get out of college an understanding of history and the context of different things and theories that play out in practice,” Morgan said “And so to take a deep dive into Bob Dylan is to take a deep dive into America from the ‘60s and forward.”
Dylan — who is from Duluth, Minn. — has ties with Mississippi and the University of Mississippi. His song “Oxford Town” is about the riots that occurred in 1962 when James Meredith integrated the university. Dylan later went on to record music about the southern culture of Mississippi and the civil rights movement.
“I want students to leave this class with a deeper appreciation for Mississippi history, the history of the South, the civil rights movement and other southern movements. Dylan has written about legal immigration, political struggles, southern demagogues and our politics,” Morgan said.
Bob Dylan and The South will have students study many types of media.
“There are all of these albums, documentaries and books,” Morgan said. “(The class) will be part lecture, part discussion, and I hope that by the end of the class students can create their own media such as their own radio show that talks about Bob Dylan.”
Department Chair of Journalism Bill Cassidy said this class will be different from other journalism courses.
“As the chair of the department, something I would really like to do is show students the connection of journalism to so many different things you don’t think about,” Cassidy said. “(The class) is not going to be a reporting class per say, but it will open students’ eyes to different things you can do within journalism.”
Morgan said he hopes to use this class to show how important the media can be in covering social and political issues.
“I want to use Bob Dylan’s work as a through line to talk about a lot of social and political issues and the way that mass media has helped shape our ideas about those issues,” Morgan said. “I also think that it’s important for students to walk out of this class with a deeper appreciation of Bob Dylan and his work as an artist and his position of importance in our culture.”
