Seminar-Problems in Comm Studies (525-0-21)

Topic

Media Theory

Instructors

James Joseph Hodge
847 4915675
University Hall Room 408

Meeting Info

University Library 5322: Wed 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

How do media impact our sense of such fundamental concepts as personhood, time and space, and social life? How do new technologies transform sensory experience at different moments in history? This course provides an introduction to the field of theoretical writings within the humanities addressing the nature of media and the role of technology in twentieth- and twenty-first century western cultures. The course will be divided roughly into two halves: one portion devoted to foundational texts (Benjamin, McLuhan, Haraway) and to key terms (media, mediation, cyborg, digital, networks, etc.); and a second portion attentive to more contemporary work. Throughout our task will be to grasp these texts on their own terms, to put them into conversation with other texts and contexts, and to trace their relation to other texts in media theory and beyond. Requirements will include a short presentation, a shorter paper, and a longer one.

Class Materials (Required)

Louise Amoore, Cloud Ethics
Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
Paul Preciado, Testo Junkie
Armond Towns, On Black Media Philosophy

Class Attributes

Graduate Students Only

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Graduate Students.