Media, power and identity: Critical media education for students of socialwork

This paper explores the theoretical underpinnings of the module entitled 'C ritical Approaches to the Media Environment' (a part of the basic course on communication offered to Masters' level students of social work at the Tat a Institute of Social Sciences) as well as the pedagogical strategies emplo yed to involve students in a process of critical media education. These str ategies include the collective analysis of the discourses of popular media artifacts, as well as other exercises, which help to foreground the media c onstruction of reality and the self.