Introduction to the course, expectations, syllabus review

Discussion and contextualization of the rise of cultural and media studies in interwar Germany

The Frankfurt School: Adorno, Horkheimer, and the Culture Industry

Walter Benjamin and the politics of representation

Roland Barthes from Mythologies to Camera Lucida: An inquiry into the politics of the image.

Introduction to the thought and work of Marshall McLuhan and the technologist approach to media theory.

Introduction to the ideas of the theorist Stuart Hall in relation to the culture and politics of the 1970s and 1980s.

Survey of various theories in the “behaviorist” school of media studies

Students complete and submit the midterm examination

Introduction to the thought of Noam Chomsky in relation to Jürgen Habermas’ notion of the “public sphere”

A survey of some aspects of postmodern media theory, foremost through the thought of Fredric Jameson.

urvey and case studies of feminist media theory

Discussion of theories of race and media

Final Exam submission

Folder with PDFs