- elementary knowledge of the development of the Western European and American media landscape from approximately 1400 AD to the present;
- introduction to (media-) historical research skills, including the use of theory in historical research and the interpretation of primary sources;
- how to study various types of academic texts effectively (in particular, the handbook and academic articles);
- general academic writing skills, such as structuring an argument, organising paragraphs, use of signal words, formulating key phrases, effective use of academic idiom and the ability to reason and formulate logically and with precision
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This course offers an elementary overview of the development of the Western European and American media landscape from the late Middle Ages to the present. The course will address the introduction and development of secular theatre, film, radio and television, and in doing so will pay particular attention to the mutual relationships between the various media.
This course is concerned with two central questions. Firstly: how have different media developed over time? Secondly: what role have media played in the major political, economic, social and cultural changes that have occurred in Western European and American society since the Middle Ages? In order to answer the second question, we will apply theoretical insights and concepts, particularly the theory of German philosopher Jürgen Habermas concerning the formation and transformation of the bourgeois ‘public sphere’. In part because the development of the written press occupies a central position in Habermas’ theory, we will devote attention to that medium several times in this lecture series as well. As we shall see, it is in all cases impossible to neglect the printing press if we wish to understand the function of various media consistently in relation to other forms of media, and not in isolation.
In this course, we will not be accepting Habermas' theoretical insights in relation to the public sphere uncritically; rather, we will consistently subject them to critical consideration, asking ourselves if they perhaps require supplementation or revision. In this way, the course will establish a foundation for subsequent courses on the history of individual media forms, but also for more theoretically-oriented follow-up courses aimed at the analysis of contemporary media and their social functions.
This course is part of Core Profile 1 of the BA Media and Culture in English.
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