Undergraduate Course: From Typewriters to Blogs: Latin American Media Studies (Ordinary) (ELCH09026)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Working with a variety of media objects ranging from typewriters, to video, to blogs, we will explore the complexity of technological and media artifacts, especially as they relate to the political, social and cultural impact of media in Latin American (and diasporic) contexts. |
| Course description |
Working with a variety of media objects ranging from typewriters, to video, to blogs, students will explore the complexity of technological and media artifacts, especially as they relate the political, social and cultural impact of media in Latin American (and diasporic) contexts. Students will read seminal theorists on technology and media, and will also explore critics whose work contends with Latin America's specificity. These critics will guide students in their approach to the complex media narratives that coexist in Latin America. They will help students approach three main questions: How is media appropriated in different national, social, and economic contexts? How does technology take on new meanings in media ecologies characterized by multiple and competing understandings of modernity? How does the same media's social function or "trajectory" (Appadurai) change over time? The course is taught in 2-hour seminars over 10 weeks. Each week students will give brief individual presentations on the critical texts or primary sources that will be discussed in class and analyzed more in depth in their coursework and exam. Presentations will receive formative feedback. Written feedback will be provided on all assessed coursework. Students are also encouraged to form autonomous learning groups outside classes.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 3 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1 close-analysis of a media topic (1000 words) (30%)
1 time limited take-home essay of 1500 words (70%)
Individual Presentation of materials (formative)
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| Feedback |
Students will receive detailed written feedback on both presentations and their written work. Optional follow-up sessions will be available for face-to-face consultation to help students understand the implications of this feedback, and to further explore ways in which future work might be enhanced. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate familiarity with a diverse range of Latin American media forms, and the arguments that surround their deployment.
- examine the ways in which the analysis of different forms of media contribute to the understanding of broader political struggles and social contexts.
- critically explore key concepts and frameworks in Latin American media studies and media studies more broadly in order to substantiate their arguments.
- evaluate the way media studies has evolved and/or remain constant in different media ecologies.
- critically analyze the diversity of media use or reception within Latin America.
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Reading List
Essential Reading:
Barthes, Roland. La cámara lúcida: Nota sobre la fotografía. 1980. Trans. Joaquim Sala-
Sanahuja. Barcelona: Paidós, 2010.
Benjamin, Walter. "La obra de arte en la época de la reproductibilidad técnica". 1936.
Discursos Interrumpidos I. Trans. Jesús Aguirre. Buenos Aires: Editorial Taurus,
1989. 15-59.
García Canclini, Néstor. Culturas híbridas: Estrategias para entrar y salir de la
modernidad. México: Grijalbo, 1989.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Ed. W. Terrence Gordon. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, 2003.
Prensky, Marc. "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants". On the Horizon 9.5 (2001): 1-6.
Sarlo, Beatriz. Escenas de la vida posmoderna: Intelectuales, arte y videocultura en la
Argentina. Buenos Aires: Ariel, 1994.
Venegas, Cristina. "El ser liberado: la biopolítica de los blogs cubanos". KEPES 9.8
(2012). 37-60.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
As an outcome of having studied this course, students will benefit from having developed a range of professional and personal skills commensurate with the range of SCQF Level 10 characteristics:
Knowledge and understanding: students will have had the opportunity to demonstrate their critical understanding of a range of the principal theories and concepts of media analysis in relation to their reading and discussion of the course material;
Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding: in their work for class discussion, presentations and formal assessment tasks, students will have been able to practice the application of these theories and concepts in their construction of arguments about the course material;
Generic Cognitive skills: in completing assessed essays and class presentations, students will have practiced identifying, defining, conceptualizing and analyzing complex problems and issues germane to the discipline;
Communication: through participating in these tasks students will also have demonstrated the ability to communicate ideas and information about specialized topics in the discipline to an informed audience of their peers and subject specialists;
Autonomy and Working with Others: students will also have the opportunity to work autonomously and in small groups on designated tasks, develop new thinking with their peers, and take responsibility for the reporting, analysis and defense of these ideas. |
| Keywords | Latin America,media |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jessica Gordon-Burroughs
Tel: (0131 6)50 3679
Email: j.gordonburroughs@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Kat Zabecka
Tel: (0131 6)50 4026
Email: K.Zabecka@ed.ac.uk |
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