The state exam
The state exam assesses knowledge of the lectures and required literature covered in the profiled courses. It also evaluates the ability to critically interpret and apply this knowledge to specific historical and current issues in the fields of social anthropology, media studies, film studies, and performance studies.
Each section of the state exam is formulated as an open-ended task to allow answers that draw on knowledge from all the program fields involved. Each student is supposed to prepare his or her own structured report in advance for each area, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the whole topic and a chosen specific aspect of it.
The examination begins with the chairperson or a selected member of the committee drawing lots for the state exam section, which is communicated to the examinee. The examined student then has thirty minutes of independent preparation time. Afterward, the student opens his or her exam with a ten-minute speech in which they independently address themes included in the drawn section.
The students must choose and articulate a structured perspective on the theme. During this presentation, the students must consider and apply the perspectives of at least three of the four main fields of the program: social anthropology, media studies, film studies, and performance studies (film poetics represents a more specific point of view that can complement but not replace any of the other fields).
For each section, specific sub-sections are always outlined, providing the students with guidance on the topic and a basis for formulating their own speech, starting from the key theories and concepts related to them. The oral presentation is followed by a discussion over the themes, issues, and concepts outlined, as well as how they are incorporated into the argument.
SECTIONS:
1. CRITICAL APPROACHES TO CULTURE
Social Anthropology: What is culture from an anthropological perspective? (Course: Introduction to SAN)
Media: Theories and critique of mass culture; theory of popular culture; and visual culture. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: "Culture" in the tradition of cultural history; "culture" in the concept of cultural transfer; “production culture” in the ethnographical research of the media industry (Courses: Introduction to Film Theories; Research in Cinema and Theatre History)
Performance: Culture as performance (creating and keeping in values through performative behavior). (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
Poetics: The role and structure of cultural encyclopedia in the process of filmmaking; film comprehension and reception. (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
2. THEORETICAL AND CRITICAL APPROACHES TO MEDIA
Social Anthropology: Multimodality in presenting culture in science. (Course: Exhibiting anthropology)
Media: Definitions of media; media typologies; media as organizations; economic conditions of media functioning; and history of mass media. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Media in avant-garde movements – constructivism. (Course: Introduction to Film Theories)
Performance: Performance as a specific medium; performative power of media. (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
Poetics: How does film as a medium manipulate its narrative design (time, space, existents), narrative process, and fictional world compared to other art forms? (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
3. AUDIENCES AND VIEWERS
Social Anthropology: Values, cosmology, and the research field – how to understand it. (Courses: Introduction to SAN, Methodology of SAN)
Media: Typologies of audiences; audience research and its logics and traditions; media effects. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Montage, film avant-garde, and viewers; film realism and perception; identification, engagement, and emotions. (Course: Introduction to Film Theories)
Performance: The relation of performer and audience; feedback loop in performance. (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
Poetics: Film distribution and film exhibition; the role of a cultural encyclopedia. (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
4. NORMS AND CONVENTIONS
Social Anthropology: Formal/informal norms and their influence upon culture. (Course: Introduction to SAN)
Media: Conventions in news production: gatekeeping theory, news values, and news production routines. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Conventions, creativity, and "Art Worlds". (Courses: Introduction to Film Theories; Research in Cinema and Theatre History)
Performance: Performance of social norms/rules; script as organizing and controlling aspect of performance. (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
Poetics: Classical Hollywood cinema as a set of narrative and stylistic norms (continuity editing, four-act model of plot design...); the cultural encyclopedia as a source of conventions; the ways of film space construction. (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
5. SOCIETY AND NATION
Social Anthropology: State, nation, nationalism and its role in contemporary society. (Course: Introduction to SAN)
Media: Social and political functions of mediated communication and mass media. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Prosopographical research (collective biography); artists, their careers, and society. (Courses: Introduction to Film Theories; Research in Cinema and Theatre History)
Performance: Social identity as performance (Erving Goffman etc.). (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
6. NEGOTIATION, ACTOR, RELATIONS
Social Anthropology: Individual within culture from the perspective of relativism, functionalism, structuralism, symbolism, and post-modernism. (Course: Introduction to SAN)
Media: Types of social communication: The pyramid typology of communication processes and types of interactions; Stuart Hall’s encoding-decoding model. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: "Author" in production culture; below-the-line and above-the-line auteurship; habitus and capital; social networks. (Courses: Introduction to Film Theories; Research in Cinema and Theatre History)
Performance: Dynamics of performer and action in performance. (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
Poetics: Filmmaker in a process of creative problem-solving. (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
7.COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE
Social Anthropology: Symbols and meaning and how they contribute to communication from an anthropological perspective. (Course: Introduction to SAN)
Media: Definitions of communication; interpersonal and mass communication; history of communication; mass communication models; natural language; theories of sign and signification; codes. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Semiotics, pragmatics, and semio-pragmatic approach to film and television. (Course: Introduction to Film Theories)
Performance: Language as performance of identity; performative power of language. (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
Poetics: The role and structure of cultural encyclopedia in the process of film comprehension; the five principles of film as a system, esp. functions and motivations. (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
8. IDENTITY
Social Anthropology: I and Other; in/out group; ethos/worldview. (Course: Introduction to SAN)
Media: Alternative (critical) paradigm in media and communication studies; mass media and class identities. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Rituals, trade genres, hustling, and analysis of media production. (Courses: Introduction to Film Theories; Research in Cinema and Theatre History)
Performance: Tools for performing identity, such as face/controlling of image (Erving Goffman) or techniques of the body (Marcel Mauss). (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
9. MODERNITY AND POWER
Social Anthropology: Anthropological theories of modernity and power, colonizing and being colonized. (Courses: Introduction to SAN, Methodology of SAN)
Media: Ideology, hegemony, power – and the media. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: What changes did modernity bring, and how did they relate to cinema; how avant-garde movements reacted to modernity? (Course: Introduction to Film Theories)
Performance: Performance as a tool of power control (performance of norms and values). (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
10. PROCESS, EVENT, STRUCTURE
Social Anthropology: Ritual, conflict, and co-operation. (Course: Introduction to SAN)
Media: Ritual model of media communication; media events. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Process of cultural transfer, its temporality; habitus, capital, structure. (Course: Research in Cinema and Theatre History)
Performance: Performance as event and artifact; performance as eruption and procession (discuss different conceptualizations). (Course: Analysis of Public Event)
Poetics: The four phases of film production in studio filmmaking; modes of film production; film distribution and exhibition. (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
11. CONTENT PRODUCERS AND CREATIVE COMMUNITIES
Social Anthropology: Critical reflection of the researcher and the researched. (Course: Methodology of SAN)
Media: Journalism as a profession. (Course: Introduction to Media and Communication Studies)
Film: Theory of field, economy of prestige. (Course: Introduction to Film Theories; Research in Cinema and Theatre History)
Performance: –
Poetics: The role and structure of cultural encyclopedia in the process of filmmaking and problem-solving; artistic implications of the production process. (Course: Analysis of Audiovisual Form)
EVALUATION OF THE STATE EXAM
Passed with excellent results
Excellent performance with no – or only minor – errors. The student has outstanding knowledge, presents the topic coherently, covers critical components of the topic independently, can correctly explain, illustrate, apply, connect, and compare concepts and theories, makes no errors of principle, and incorporates knowledge beyond the obligatory literature.
Passed
Quality performance demonstrating sufficient knowledge expected of program graduates. The student is able to reflect upon the topic from the perspective of several disciplines evenly as well as to root the argumentation in academic literature and illustrate it upon discipline-relevant examples independently or when prompted by the examiners. The examination flows as a discussion rather than a question-answer session.
Failed
Unsatisfying performance that does not present basic expected knowledge. The student is not able to follow the topic even when prompted, is not able to explain basic concepts and theories, and, even when guided by follow-up questions, makes fundamental errors in answers. A considerable amount of additional study is therefore required.