Media, Communications & Culture

Media and Cultural Studies at Keele is an exciting and developing discipline that draws together theories and practices from a range of traditional disciplines such as English, Sociology, Geography, Music and Visual Arts. It involves three main aspects:

• The study of theories and ideas about media and cultural production in a global context
• The critical analysis of cultural texts and practices from around the world
• Engagement in practical creative production

The MA in Global Media and Culture seeks to explore the relationship between these three areas and to show how knowledge of each informs and influences the others. In addition, it aims to provide the skills necessary for academic study at an advanced level either for those wishing to go on to further academic research, or as an advanced preparation for those interested in pursuing careers in a range of media and culture industries.

The aim of the Programme is to enable students to:

• Think, talk, and write at an advanced level about global media and culture and the ways in which cultural and media organisations intersect with general political and economic processes.
• Understand, evaluate and apply a range of theories about culture and media production, especially those associated with globalisation and postcolonialism.
• Engage in comparative analysis of media and cultural production from different areas of the world.
• Pursue options in developing creative skills and practices involved in media and cultural production at a level commensurate with postgraduate study.
• Critically engage in analysing the ways in which questions of cultural value are experienced and understood, within the context of globalisation and postcolonialism.
• Pursue critical approaches and methodologies practised in media and cultural studies, especially those associated with postcolonialism and globalisation.
• Develop research skills commensurate with postgraduate study in the field of media and cultural studies.
• Obtain the knowledge, skills and personal qualities necessary to find a fulfilling and rewarding career, and become informed and active citizens with a lifelong interest in studying and/or practicing in the fields of global media and culture.

An honours degree at second class or higher (or international equivalent) in Media Studies, Cultural Studies or another appropriate Humanities or Social Sciences subject. Applicants with other qualifications and appropriate experience will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Students for whom English is a second language will require English language proficiency of at least 6.5 in IELTS test scores (or equivalent).

Each module is given a credit rating within the national Masters framework. These may be transferable from, or to, other institutions where the learning outcomes are comparable.

Postgraduate Certificate in Global Media and Culture: 60 credits

Postgraduate Diploma in Global Media and Culture: 120 credits

Masters in Global Media and Culture: total 180 credits

An outline of the structure of the programme is provided in the table on page 144. Core modules are shown in bold; optional modules are in regular font (see over).

Full-time students complete the course over one year (September to September); part-time students over two years.

Course Modules

MDS-40024:  Research Skills (15 credits)

The purpose of this module is to provide students with the research skills necessary to complete masters level work in Media and Cultural Studies. The module is designed to teach students to cite and reference rigorously, construct reading lists, critically analyze texts, complete internet research and assess the relative validity of secondary sources taken from the internet, and plan and write essays.

MDS-40023: Research Methods (15 credits)

The purpose of this module is to provide students with a Masters-level introduction to methodological issues in the discipline of media and cultural studies. As such. the module considers notions of method and methodology, explores the construction of meaning in texts, and practices literary and film analysis. Moving beyond these methods, the module looks at ethnographic approaches to research, interviewing, and addresses issues of ethics. Finally, the module provides guidance on doing literature searches and surveys and explains the mechanics of writing a Masters-level thesis or producing a media project.

Globalisation, Culture, Media (30 credits)

This module aims to enable students to engage critically with the processual nature of globalisation and to recognise the impact of the processes of globalisation on contemporary culture and society. It will also allow students to identify and analyse critically a variety of theoretical perspectives on processes of globalisation, and to enable students to apply cultural theories of globalisation to a variety of substantive examples. Topics covered on the course may include diaspora and diasporic culture; the rise of alternative media politics; the cultural politics of globalisation through an exploration of everyday life; anti-capitalist culture; and the rise of fundamentalism.

Contemporary Cultural and Media Theory (30 credits)

This module aims to introduce students to, and further develop their knowledge of, cultural theory appropriate to the field of Media, Communications and Culture. It enables students to explore some of the major movements in cultural

theory, including film theory. Students will examine key issues in twentieth-century cultural theory and explore the complexity of these issues in relation to social and cultural change. The module will introduce students to the theory and practice of reading culture in general as well as various specific forms and modes of cultural self-representation. Authors and topics to be considered may include Cultural Materialism, Cultural History, Subcultures, Cybercultures, Cultural Geographies, Modernity, Postmodernism, (Post-) Feminism, Postcolonialism, Psychoanalysis, Ecocriticism, Jean Baudrillard, Noam Chomsky, Jonathan Crary, Michel Foucault, David Harvey, Dick Hebdige, Fredric Jameson, Margaret Morse, Judith Butler and Slavoj Žižek.

Postcolonial and World Literature in English (30 credits)

This module aims to introduce students to the diversity of literature and film produced in postcolonial contexts since the end of World War II. We will compare material from a number of formerly colonised regions – including Africa, the Caribbean, India, and Australasia – and explore how postcolonial texts relate to local cultural and historical experiences. The module is structured around some of the most highly charged issues tackled by postcolonial writers and filmmakers: cultural identity and nationhood; race, gender, and the body; globalisation; economic development; environmental disaster; and war. As we address these, we will look at ways of critically applying the exciting and challenging ideas raised by postcolonial theory, and consider how world literature is consumed in a global marketplace. The module covers a wide range of texts including prose, poetry, drama, and film, and will examine how postcolonial writers and directors have made innovative uses form and genre.

Creative Media Practice (30 credits)

This module allows students to produce a practical project and workbook which will culminate in a final year show. Content is determined by individual negotiation between student and designated tutor. The Media Project presents an opportunity for you to explore in depth an area of particular interest for which you must complete an extended piece of focused research and production. It is up to the student to decide the content of this work (although advice and criticism will be offered by tutors). The finished project should show evidence of a disciplined and creative work process. The independent Media Project will be supported through a set of individual supervision meetings. Students will be encouraged to think how they would like to use these meetings: bringing proposals and plans of work for the supervisor to consider; raising any queries about research tasks and information sources; and presenting regular review reports of progress.

Dissertation (60 credits)

The dissertation module is a substantial piece of postgraduate work that engages the student in independent and original work in the field of global media and cultural studies. The project will be based on a topic agreed between the student and the supervisor. It will draw on the research interests of the student as developed during the first two semesters of the MA in Global Media and Cultures programme and will benefit from the research expertise of relevant supervisors in the Schools of Humanities and/or Criminology and Sociology. The successful completion of the dissertation will represent a substantial piece of postgraduate work that will enable the student to go on either to do further advanced academic research at MPhil or PhD level or to pursue a career at an advanced level in a relevant area of the media and culture industries.

Media Project (60 credits)

The media project module is a substantial piece of postgraduate work that engages the student in independent and original work in the field of global media and cultural studies. The project will be based on a topic agreed between the student and the supervisor. It will draw on the research interests of the student as developed during the first two semesters of the MA in Global Media and Cultures programme and will benefit from the research expertise of relevant supervisors in the School of Humanities. The successful completion of the media project will represent a substantial piece of postgraduate work that will enable the student to go on either to do further advanced academic research at MPhil or PhD level or to pursue a career at an advanced level in a relevant area of the media and culture industries.