| CODE | ENG5045 | ||||||
| TITLE | Contemporary Culture and the Media | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | English | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit strengthens students’ historical knowledge and theoretical understanding of relations between literature, culture and modern media. Combining theoretical components (discussing aesthetic and cultural topics of a general nature) with components focused on specific literary genres, themes or historical influences it gives attention to the many forms in which literature enters the media and the public arena in contemporary society. Overall, the unit give students a broad understanding of the prevalent issues in contemporary culture and critical media studies, focusing on six main topics, namely: - Industry, Media and Audience: An introduction to the different media and their function in culture is juxtaposed to an analysis of audiences and their modified role; - Consumption, Distribution and Surveillance: The power dynamics of contemporary communication is analysed through case studies that problematise traditional notions of the production, distribution and consumption of information; - Technocultures: Through an introduction to technocultures, students are challenged to identify and discuss discourses related to the technological, the human, the cultural and the natural. Special attention is given to the various types of media used to distribute the texts and their role in producing specific meanings is analysed; - Texts, Forms and Codes: A discussion about traditional methods of textual production is juxtaposed to new forms and codes leading to a discussion on virtuality, interactivity, ergodicity and immersion among other aspects of digital textual production in multimedia platforms; - Gender, Race and Class: The representation of gender, race and class in contemporary culture and media is analysed through case studies and juxtaposed to more traditional constructions and perceptions of identity. Media's ability to influence cultural constructions of identity and the ways in which it does so is discussed; - Reconfigured Aesthetics: Notions of art representations in different media platforms as well as media products as new art forms are analysed through the lens of theoretical discussions on imageability, distributed aesthetics, network culture and real virtuality. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to: - Give a comprehensive understanding of the main issues currently debated in cultural criticism and critical media studies; - Ensure students possess a good understanding of the functions and attributes of both traditional and new media; - Ensure students are able to discuss questions of power, culture, identity and art in relation to the contemporary culture and the media; - Give students the necessary theoretical framework to discuss further complex issues within developing cultural criticism and critical media studies. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Demonstrate their knowledge of the social, historical, institutional and political contexts of cultural identities, practices, texts and the theories which are used to interpret and analyse them; - Gain awareness of the theoretical and object shifts that have taken place in the field of study; - Appreciate the theoretical approaches, concepts and terminologies related to critical media studies and cultural analysis. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Critically comment on and analyse cultural artefacts and multimedia products; - Distinguish between information communication and media aesthetics; - Identify upcoming communication trends in contemporary culture and new media; - Question the ideologies embedded in media as institutions, communication tools and texts; - Act as cultural critics. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Agamben, Giorgio, trans. by Michael Hart, The Coming Community (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1993). - Bolter, Jay David, Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext and the Remediation of Print (Oxford: Routledge, 2011). - Carey, John, The Intellectuals and the Masses: Pride and Prejudice among the Literary Intelligentsia 1880-1939 (London: Faber and Faber, 1992). - Carroll, Noël, On Criticism (London: Routledge, 2009). - De Certeau, Michel, The Practice of Everyday Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984). - Fuery, Kelly, New Media: Culture and Image (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). - Giddings, Seth, and Lister, Martin, The New Media and Technocultures Reader (London: Routledge, 2011). - Hansen, Mark B.N., Embodying Technesis: Technology Beyond Writing (Michigan: University of Michigan, 2000). - Hansen, Mark B.N., New Philosophy for New Media (Massachusetts: MIT, 2006). - Harries, Dan, The New Media Book (London: BFI, 2002). - Herman, David, ed., Narratologies: New Perspectives on Narrative Analysis (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1999). - Himanen, P., The Hacker Ethic and the Spirit of the Information Age (London: Secker & Warburg, 2001). - Jameson, Fredric, Archaeologies of the Future (London: Verso, 2006). - Kress, Gunther and Van Leeuwen, Theo, Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication (London: Arnold, 2001). - Landow, George P., Hypertext 3.0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization (Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press, 1992, repr. 2006). - Manovich, Lev, The Language of New Media (Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2001). - McLuhan, Marshall, Understanding Media (London: Routledge, 2001). - McGann, Jerome, Radiant Textuality: Literary Studies after the World Wide Web (London: Palgrave, 2001). - Meikle, Graham, and Sherman Young, Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). - Rancière, Jacques, trans. Gregory Elliot, The Emancipated Spectator (London: Verso, 2009). - Ryan, Marie-Laure, Narrative as Virtual Reality (Maryland: John Hopkins University Press, 2001). - Shaw, Debra Benita, Technoculture (Oxford: Berg, 2008). Students will be provided with a reading pack. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Giuliana Fenech |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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