This third course in the media studies program’s media theory sequence picks up with the linguistic turn that swept academic fields and disciplines in the 1980s. This course will revisit some debates you have already read about, while at the same time providing an overview of the shift that occurred under the rubric of postmodernism (also known as the idealist or linguistic turn).
Course Objectives:
- Provide an introduction to poststructuralist and postmodernist theory, particularly insofar as these have influenced the field of media studies
- Provide an overview of some of the central debates and key concepts of poststructuralist and postmodernist theory
- Provide a framework for students to situate their own research within the field of media studies, its intellectual histories, and its debates
- Provide training in reviewing and editing other scholars’ work.