Course Catalogue

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This course engages with the opportunities and challenges facing contemporary media and journalism in the global South. It puts a strong emphasis on comparative media research in Africa and Latin America (though course themes will enable comparison beyond these regions) to explore the critical tensions between local and global contextual factors that shape and constrain media practices in non-Western contexts, especially the changes imposed by changing technological, economic, and political conditions. 

10 x 2 hr sessions in the second semester

None for the course specifically, but entry to the MSc programme requires a good first degree in a relevant discipline.

None

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There is one 4000-word formally assessed assignment for this course which counts for 100% of the course mark. It provides students an opportunity to evaluate competing perspectives and specific examples and case studies of media and journalism in the global South. A list of essay questions will be provided in the course guide, although students may also answer a question they have devised themselves in consultation with the Course Convenors.

The aims of the course are to:

■ Introduce key theoretical concepts for engaging with emerging debates on de-westernising Media Studies and global journalism studies.

■ Explore comparative research (analysis) and methodological approaches that offer insights into the complex connections between media and society in diverse socio-economic, political and technological environments of the South.

■ Equip students with an understanding of key concepts, practices and theoretical debates underpinning the field of media and journalism in the global South.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

■ Demonstrate a critical reading and understanding of key concepts and theoretical debates underpinning the study of media in its transnational comparative context.

■ Draw upon a variety of debates on the social practice of media and journalism in the global South to develop sustained arguments in both written and oral form.

■ Identify and critique the nature and form of media practices and cultures across developing economies, including the ethical and normative dilemmas faced by practitioners in the global South.

■ Analyse and reflect on particularities of national settings as well as global trends that determine differences and similarities between media cultures in the global South.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.