Monash University Handbook 2010 Undergraduate - Unit

Synopsis

This unit introduces students to critiques of power in relation to the uneven development of modernity and media cultures. The history of concepts of power are examined in terms of the relationship between concepts and their socio-technical and economic conditions of emergence. The unit provides students with an understanding of the shift from industrial production to flexible accumulation and the impact this has had on global media cultures. The unit aims to identify how ordinary practices of the everyday are distinguished by media cultures engaged in contests of power and governance.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this unit students will be able to:

1. Explain how the concept of power is not a static one, but is subject to the complex inter-relationships between institutions, modes of critical theory, media cultures of the everyday, communications media, and historical contingencies.
2. Understand that 'modernity' is not reducible to Enlightenment Europe, but is a series of socio-technical experiences across the world that have been uneven in their economic and cultural effects.
3. Critically examine the everyday as a locus of micropolitics articulated with communications media.
4. Critically examine and research historical and contemporary media culture formations in relation to different theoretical models of power.
5. Demonstrate how the everyday is an important dimension of analysis to understanding the historical process of uneven modernities.

Assessment

Essay 2500 words 40%
Exam 2000 words 40%
Participation 5%
Debate 15%

Contact hours

2 hours (1 x 1 hour lecture and 1 x 1 hour tutorial) per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

International studies
Communications

Prerequisites

An approved first year sequence

Prohibitions

COM3000