Researching Media and Culture

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

This subject must be completed over two consecutive study periods (Semester 1 AND July) – 12.5 points total.

85 Hours

Admission into 101AA Ph.D.- Arts or DR-PHILART Doctor of Philosophy in Arts.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This workshop series will examine media culture(s), focusing on how the social sciences and Humanities deal with culture, including cultural production, forms and practices, across the axes of time and space, and incorporating both the virtual and the material dimensions. Together we will examine uneasy tensions in the hermeneutics of culture; ranging from histories of material culture to the expanded terrains of mediated, transnational culture, as discussed by different theorists of the twentieth and twenty-first century, such as, Raymond Williams, David Harvey, and Theodor Adorno. The range of topics covered during the semester will be framed from the micro- to the macro-level perspective and back, and may include concepts of the everyday, the functions of technology, and the effects of global communication networks and so on.

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

• demonstrate knowledge of how the social sciences and Humanities deal with media culture, including cultural production, forms and practices, across the axes of time and space;
• have an enhanced awareness of the range of contemporary scholarship in their discipline or interdisciplinary are;
• demonstrate an ability to reflect on, critically evaluate and synthesise the contemporary research literatures relevant to their thesis topic;
• formulate and present the research proposal for their confirmation; and
• articulate the range of problems, concepts and theories relevant to their thesis and field of study.

1. One 2,500-word essay, due at the end of first semester (50%).

2. Written work totalling 2,500 words, due four weeks after the teaching period (50%).

Hurdle Requirement: Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% of classes in order to pass this subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.