Mobility, Culture and Communication

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject examines the transformations of urban life and social belonging by focusing on the related impact of human mobility and new media and communication technologies. It will critically engage with the dominant sociological models for explaining global movement and the emergence of global, mobile media, and will test their relationship to theories of the nation state, diasporic cultures and new urban formations. In particular it will examine the formation of new hybrid identities, cosmopolitan organizations, transnational modes of agency and social interaction. This subject will address the complex cultural transformation of public space and the public sphere in contemporary society. It will situate this discussion in relation to underlying fears towards outsiders and ambivalence towards the impact of new technologies and mobility in general. On completion of this subject, students will be familiar with alternative perspectives for understanding the relation between global flows and local affiliations, and for understanding the emergence of new social spaces and practices in the diasporic cultures of contemporary cities.

Students who complete this subject will be able to:

• prepare and present ideas in both verbal and written mode, and in conformity to conventions of academic presentation;
• reflect on learning and take responsibility for organising personal study; and
• participate in discussion and group activities and be sensitive to the participation of others.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• be able to prepare and present their ideas in both verbal and written mode, and in conformity to conventions of academic presentation;
• be able to reflect on their own learning and take responsibility for organising personal study; and
• be able to participate in discussion and group activities and be sensitive to the participation of others.