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Media and Culture Reading - Popular Culture

Class at Faculty of Social Sciences |
JKM198

Syllabus

14 February 2023

Opening session:  rules and principles of the seminar, FAQ’s 21 February 2023

Introductory lecture: Theoretical framework for the study of memory in old and new media age

This lecture explores the burgeoning field of memory studies and highlights key concepts that are crucial to understanding the relationship between memory and communication media. It asserts that there is a strong connection between memory and media, reflected in the ways in which memory is produced, stored, and conveyed through media.

The lecture focuses on the central areas of media memory research, including journalism, media's impact on individual memory, media's role in shaping collective memory (with a particular emphasis on its potential for shaping social hegemony), and the changes brought about by the digitalization of memory processes.

Overall, the lecture provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between memory and media and provides a foundation for further inquiry and exploration in this field. 28 February 2023

Memory and History: Seminal Ideas in the Study of the Collective Memory (Maurice Halbwachs, Henri Bergson, Paul Ricoeur, Pierre Nora, Jacques LeGof)

Reading:

Garde-Hannsen, Joan (2011) Media and Memory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Chapter "Memory studies and media studies", pp. 13-30. 7 March 2023

Cultural Memory

Reading:

Assmann, Jan (2008) Communicative and Cultural Memory. Pp. 109 - 125 in Erll, Astrid - Nünning, Ansgar (eds.) Cultural Memory Studies: An International and Interdisciplinary Handbook. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter.

Online publication in FSV library. 14 March 2023

Journalism and Memory: Intertwining Histories

Reading:

Četba: Zelizer, Barbie (2014) Memory as Foreground, Journalism as Background. Pp. 32-49 in Barbie Zelizer, Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt (eds.), Journalism and Memory. London: Palgrave.

Physical book in FSV library. 21 March 2023

Memory Construction in Television Drama

Reading: de Leeuw, Sonja (2010) Television Fiction: A Domain of Memory - Retelling the Past on Dutch Television. Pp. 139-151 in Erin Bell and Ann Gray (eds.), Televising History. London: Palgrave

Uploaded in SIS. 28 March 2023

Collective Memory as a Carrier of Nostalgia

Reading:

Pickering, M. – Keightley, E. (2006) The modalities of nostalgia. Current Sociology, 54(6): 919–41.

In the digital database of Sage journals. 4 April 2023

Nostalgia and Retro in Post-Socialist Culture

Reading:

Pehe, Veronika. (2020) Velvet Retro. Postsocialist Nostalgia and the Politics of Heroism in Czech Popular Culture. New York : Berghahn Books. Introduction, Pp. 1-26. 

Online publication in FSV library. 11 April 2023

Collective Memory as a carrier of trauma

Reading:

Alexander, Jeffrey C. (2004) Toward a Theory of Cultural Trauma. Pp. 1-31 in Alexander, Jeffrey C. at al. (eds.) Cultural Trauma and Identity. Berkley: University of California Press.

Online publication in FSV library. 18 April 2023

Memory and produsage

Reading:

Boudana, S.- Frosh, P. - Cohen, A. A. (2017) Reviving Icons To Death: When Historic Photographs Become Digital Memes. Media, Culture & Society, 39(8) 1210–1230.

In the digital database of Sage journals. 25 April 2022

Collective Memory in the Digital Age

Reading:

Hoskins, Andrew (2009) The Mediatisation of Memory. Pp. 27-43 in Joanne Garde-Hansen, Andrew Hoskins, Anna Reading (eds.), Save As...Digital Memories. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Physical book in FSV library. 2 May 2022

Collective Memory in Populist Discourse

Reading:

Sabine Volk (2022): Resisting ‘leftist dictatorship’? Memory politics and collective action framing in populist far-right street protest, European Politics and Society.

In the digital database of Taylor and Francis journals. 9 May 2022

Students´ presentations

Annotation

The class is structured as a reading seminar where students independently read assigned texts and respond to accompanying assignments. These texts, which address fundamental issues and debates in the field of media and culture, are meant to illustrate the importance of media in shaping memory.

As homework, students are expected to read the pre-selected texts and present their critical understanding of the material in class. This seminar aims to introduce basic frameworks for studying mediated memory and its impact on both individual and collective memory.

The class begins with an introductory lecture that provides an overview of key theoretical perspectives on memory from various fields such as philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, and media studies. The lecture highlights essential concepts such as personal and collective memory, the difference between memory, history, and the past, nostalgia, trauma, discontinuity of memory, and others.

These core concepts are further explored and expanded upon through the readings assigned for the course, allowing students to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the topic.