Media History and Media Theory

What is a medium? How are messages influenced by the media through which they are communicated? In what ways is our knowledge about the past shaped by historical media technologies? In this course we address such questions through theoretical perspectives from media and cultural studies. The course provides a historically grounded introduction to key concepts and theoretical approaches that have shaped media studies as a discipline. By studying classic texts and theories, students develop insight into various critical approaches to the study of media and media cultures, and by working with historical sources they practise methodological skills that may subsequently be applied in further, independent assignments at BA and/ or MA level.

Knowledge

Students who successfully complete this course have:

• Knowledge about salient aspects of media history.
• Familiarity with key concepts and principles of media-historical inquiry.
• Basic knowledge about a range of different theories of media and media cultures.
• In-depth knowledge about selected terms and concepts from current media studies.
• Knowledge about the use of sources and academic referencing systems in media studies.

Skills

Students who successfully complete this course are able to:

• Explain the importance of historical context for an understanding of media.
• Explain the importance of media-technological context for the interpretation of historical sources.
• Apply appropriate terms and concepts in order to explore different aspects of media cultures.
• Apply media-historical methods to explore a given topic.
• Critically evaluate a range of theoretical arguments about media from a historical perspective.
• Plan and organize written work to deadlines.
• Make appropriate use of sources and academic referencing systems.

Lectures and student-active learning methods that include compulsory participation in seminar groups.

The compulsory assignments are issued by the course convenor at the start of term and must be completed to receive a final assessment.

Students are required to use Canvas actively for updates and information, in addition to other information resources of the course.