International Media and Communication Studies MA

The module examines key issues and contemporary debates in the study of media. It explores the implications of "de-Westernising" understandings of media communication, both in theory and in practice. It problematizes the nation state as the ethical and political horizon of media practices.

There are four areas of enquiry:

• Histories of the Present: Media in an International Context
• Political-Economic Strategies and Communication Power
• Emergence of New Actors in Society and Culture
• Ethics and Politics of Communication in a World without Borders

Key fields of research addressed are:

• Media sociology
• Cultural studies
• The political economy of media

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module introduces you to the wide range of interdisciplinary research happening in the Faculty of Arts. We invite you to ‘think outside the box’ in relation to your own research, while learning key research techniques and methods. The module aims to:

• introduce the ideas, practices, complexities, and opportunities of interdisciplinary research in the arts
• enable you to practice critical self-reflexivity about the conventions and expectations of your own disciplines in relation to those of others
• train you in core research skills necessary for graduate-level study
• develop your confidence in communicating research findings to non-specialist audiences

You will build on your existing research skills gained from your university career to date. Furthermore, you will develop a more nuanced understanding of your own research practice, inspiring you to explore different approaches questions. In addition, you will develop an understanding of professional practice in areas such as:

• academic publishing
• knowledge exchange
• dissertation planning and writing
• professional communication

This module is worth 20 credits.

The media, cultural and creative industries are broad. There are different sectors with a wide variety of areas of practice. These provide many opportunities for future research and employment.

As well as opportunities this diversity also presents barriers that can be difficult to navigate:

• lack of established entry routes and clear career paths
• distinctive and specific labour processes
• specific, complex, and dynamic sets of issues and challenges such as workforce diversity, inequality, precarity and internship culture, skills and education, digitisation, conglomeration, global integration, and platformification.

You'll investigate and analyse the contemporary media and cultural industries with a detailed investigation of specific sectors and areas of practice. Through these investigations, you'll develop knowledge and skills that enhance your employability and build a framework for future research.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Explore the role of technology in:

• shaping processes of symbolic exchange
• the material organisation of cultures
• the growth of communication 'power' and subjective capacities for action

The module draws together research in media and communication theory, history and philosophy of technology, geography and the sociology of communication, material cultures.

You'll consider debates about:

• the division between technical and cultural understandings of the world
• links between technology and experience
• critical appraisals of ideas about network and information society
• technological determinism
• digital infrastructures
• theories of socio-technical organisation

This module is worth 20 credits.

Examine how issues of gender and sexuality relate to media and popular culture.

Using the intersectional fields of feminism, queer theory, and media and cultural studies we'll ask some crucial questions such as:

• How are gender and sexuality represented in media and popular culture?
• How do media and cultural industries structure gender and sexual inequalities?
• How are identities and practices of media audiences and users gendered and sexualised?
• How can gender and sexual norms be challenged in creative and radical ways?

This module is worth 20 credits.

Explore the specific characteristics of the cultural industries and the main dynamics which shape the operations of those industries. You will be introduced to key critical perspectives on the cultural industries:

• the processes of cultural production
• distinctions between cultural industries and 'creative industries'
• the concept of 'cultural economy'
• matters of industry structure and cultural markets
• the specificities of cultural work and the challenges confronting employment in the cultural industries
• the role and importance of intellectual property rights in the cultural industries
• the impacts of digitalisation and globalisation.

 This module is worth 20 credits.

Explore the relationship between public space, politics and technology using overlapping and interdisciplinary fields, including:

• cultural studies
• cultural geography
• digital studies
• urban sociology
• cultural politics

You will engage in debates about the changing nature and uses of public space, with an emphasis on urban environments and digital space.

A range of protest movements will also provide case-study material and offer a central focus for your theoretical and practical explorations of the role of new technologies in:

• controlling space
• resisting control
• enabling new forms of civic participation.

This module is worth 20 credits.