APR6100 - Film, media and communication studies: The state of the fields - 2019

The unit reviews the overlapping histories and disciplinary trajectories of film studies, media studies, communication studies, cultural studies and journalism. It provides an overview of how these fields have formed, how they have cross-fertilised each other and where they now stand within the contemporary academy. Topics that may be addressed include: the relation of the fields to social and political movements beyond the academy; their intersection with fields of practice (from media production to professional communication); their institutional locations; their ambivalent interdisciplinarity; their international influences and distribution; their varying formation through teaching and research; and their loosely shared stock of key concepts and themes (for example, 'medium', 'audience', 'discourse', 'culture', 'genre' and 'power'). The aim across all topics will be to reflect on the history and current possibilities of the fields, providing a basis for research students to develop an informed and critical perspective on where their own projects sit within larger intellectual and disciplinary contexts.

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. demonstrate a broad understanding of the histories and disciplinary trajectories of film studies, communication studies, media studies, cultural studies and journalism
2. identify the major commonalities and differences between these fields
3. demonstrate an awareness of the intersection of the fields (as fields of scholarship) with fields of practice and with social and political movements beyond the academy.
4. provide a critical account of interdisciplinarity within the fields
5. outline the institutional location of the fields, their varying formation through teaching and research and their international influences and distribution
6. demonstrate awareness of the varying use of key concepts across the fields (for example, 'medium', 'audience', 'discourse', 'culture', 'genre' and 'power')
7. reflect critically on where their own doctoral or masters research project sits within larger intellectual and disciplinary contexts.

Within semester assessment: 100%

24hrs of class contact in block mode. Remaining studying time to be used in reading, seminar preparation and assignment work.

See also Unit timetable information