KE6042 - Culture, Power and Spaces of Media

What will I learn on this module?

As the media geographers Jansson & Falkheimer write, “media produce space and space produce media” (Geographies of Communication: The Spatial Turn in Media Studies, 2006, p. 9). Communication media thus constitute geographies by extending spatially, expanding spatiality, and connecting places and people. Ubiquitous and pervasive media are central to the production of contemporary cultural environments around the world. Media generate spaces of representation; of ideological production, circulation and struggle; of identity formation and contestation; of affective intensities and engagements; and of discursive articulation, disarticulation and rearticulation. This module explores theoretical perspectives on the relationships between media, culture, power and space in contemporary societies. It asks how we can assess the scalar and cultural politics that are enacted and engaged in places and spaces of popular media production, circulation and consumption, and how we might understand and analyze the complex relationships between large-scale, macro-level forms of social, spatial, structural and media power/control, on the one hand, and the micropolitics of pleasure, subversion and spaces/cultures/practices of everyday life, on the other. We will also examine transformations, identities and forms of power and affect at work within networked spaces of digital media, and will draw upon a variety of empirical examples from popular media cultures.

How will I learn on this module?

This module will involve a combination of lecture-style delivery and seminar-style discussion of key readings and research projects.

How will I be supported academically on this module?

Support will include directed reading and feedback during lectures and seminars. Ongoing support will be provided to help with the development of assignments. Your tutors operate an “open door” policy for students, which means that you can approach them anytime during normal office hours, or via email, to answer questions, receive feedback and support your learning on the module. All your learning will be supported through resources made available through Blackboard.

What will I be expected to read on this module?

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

What will I be expected to achieve?

Knowledge & Understanding:
• Critically discuss the historical development of cultural studies, and the spaces, places and cultural and scalar politics of media.
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of key concepts in cultural theory, with particular reference to how these apply to the analysis of relations between culture, power and spaces of media.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of different arguments and theories about the role of media practices in the formation and contestation of cultural meanings, knowledges, ideologies, identities and spaces.
• Apply their knowledge and understanding of key theoretical arguments about culture, power and spaces of media to the immediate contexts of the UK.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
• Demonstrate awareness of critical cultural analysis, particularly in the context of global media cultures and spaces.

How will I be assessed?

Assessment #1 (40%): Reflexive Essay Students will draw upon material from this module to reflect upon their own engagements with media.

Assessment #2 (60%): Essay (2,500 words). Students will submit an essay that engages with some aspect(s) of the material covered in the module.

Pre-requisite(s)

KE5005, KE5006, KE5007

Co-requisite(s)

None

Module abstract

Communication media constitute geographies by extending spatially, expanding spatiality, and connecting places and people. Pervasive media are also central to the production of contemporary cultural environments around the world. Media produce spaces of representation; of ideological production, circulation and struggle; of identity formation and contestation; of affective intensities and engagements; and of discursive articulation, disarticulation and rearticulation. This module explores theoretical perspectives on the relationships between media, culture, power and space in contemporary societies. It asks how we can assess the cultural politics that are enacted and engaged in places and spaces of popular media production, circulation and consumption, and how we might understand and analyze the complex relationships between large-scale, macro-level forms of social, spatial, structural and media power/control, on the one hand, and the micropolitics of pleasure, subversion and spaces/cultures/practices of everyday life, on the other. It draws upon a variety of empirical examples from popular media cultures.

Course info

UCAS Code L700

Credits 20

Level of Study Undergraduate

Mode of Study 3 years Full Time or 4 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad

School Geography and Natural Sciences

Location City Campus, Northumbria University

City Newcastle

Start September 2027

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Module Information

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