Course leader: Rachel O’Neill
How does gender organize contemporary life? What role does media play in shaping individual identities, cultural attitudes and social practices? How can we understand gender inequality on a global scale? What impact do processes of globalization have on current media formations? Can media be used as a resource for cultural politics and activism? By who, and in what ways?
This course will explore these and other questions, offering students the opportunity to study media, gender and culture in transnational perspective. Students on this course will gain a critical foundation in gender and cultural theory, examining issues such as the representation of women in news media, constructions of gender and sexuality in advertising, as well as the influence of global capitalism on contemporary media forms. Examining recent trends in popular film and television, we will examine debates over ‚postfeminism‘ and the ’sexualisation of culture‘; taking case studies such as the Everyday Sexism Project, we will think through some of the ways social media might be used as a tool of social change. In dedicated workshops students will learn how to critically analyse media texts, including screen and print media, as well as digital and online media. Taking advantage of our location in central London, the class will visit a number of the capital’s foremost cultural institutes – including the British Film Institute (BFI) and the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) – where students will have the opportunity to meet with practitioners from the media and cultural industries. At all points the course will promote intersectional thinking, as we consider how gender interacts with other axes of power such as sexuality, race and class. Engaging research and theory from cultural contexts as diverse as India, Taiwan, Sweden and South Africa, students on this course will develop the knowledge and critical skills necessary to analyse gender, media and culture in a global arena.
Registration for the ‚Media, Gender & Culture‘ Summer School course is now open. For further details please visit: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/prospectus/shortcourses/index/name/mediagenderculture14/keyword/summer-school
Administrative contact: summerschool(at)kcl.ac.uk
Academic contact: rachel.r.o’neill(at)kcl.ac.uk