GLOBAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION - 2020/1

Module Overview

This core Year 2 module looks at international research in media and communication studies, bringing together cases from across the world. It considers the relevance of the project of ‘de-Westernization’ of the field, considering legitimate critiques that a large proportion of knowledge in the field has been generated from Western industrialized societies, majorities, and mainstreams. With newer gaps emerging with the proliferation of newer waves of the web, including access to 5G technology, and related academic and institutional issues around the new data divides, in terms of Big Data haves and have-nots, the module addresses the North–South imbalance in the field of media and communications and uses case studies of comparative research from around the world to paint a picture of what a truly global media and communication studies might look like.

Module provider

Sociology

Module Leader

DAS Ranjana (Sociology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

n/a

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Mediation and mediatisation in a global context
• The global south
• ‘Dewesternising’ media studies
• Globalisation and mediation
• Postcoloniality in media and communication
• Digital societies in a global framework

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to conduct independent library research, focusing on research published in academic journals, on a current topic relevant to theories and concepts in media and communication.

The first assignment (30% of the grade) is a 1000 word essay which focuses on finding and making use of academic sources relevant to the essay question set. It assesses the ability to write a critical essay using these sources.
The second assignment (70% of the grade) is a 2000 word essay which develops on the skills and feedback associated to the first essay.

Formative assessment and feedback

Students receive feedback within the seminars on their progress as seminar questions are responded to and discussed. The summative assessment in the first assignment also provides formative feedback which is directly relevant to the second summative assessment.

Module aims

• To introduce students to the diversity of media and communications from a comparative, cross-cultural, global perspective
• To explore a wide range of case studies in international media and communication
• To encourage students to think critically and reflexively about the global north and south and about dewesternising media and communication studies

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

1. The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:


Offer students lectures that provide a critical overview of various topics relevant to media and communication theories in contemporary mediated societies. Students expand on this knowledge base through a weekly programme of essential readings supplemented by their choice of background reading.
2.
Give students the chance to experience each of the topics in action, through seminar exercises which focus on case studies or exercises covering the range of topics examined in the module.
3.
Support confidence in independent literature research through a focus on journal article(s) in the lecture and exercises on finding and critically appreciating journal articles.


The learning and teaching methods include:


11 one-hour lectures which cover key topics.
11 one-hour seminars carrying out work on exercises and case studies relevant to the key topics.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: SOC2085

Other information

n/a

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.