MC420      Half Unit
Identity, Transnationalism and the Media

This information is for the 2021/22 session.

Teacher responsible

Professor Myria Georgiou

Availability

This course is available on the MSc in Culture and Society, MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and Fudan), MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and UCT), MSc in Global Media and Communications (LSE and USC), MSc in Media and Communications and MSc in Media, Communication and Development. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

In order to accommodate academic staff research leave and sabbaticals, and in order to maintain smaller seminar group sizes, this course is capped, meaning that there is a limit to the number of students who can be accepted. Whist we do our best to accommodate all requests, we cannot guarantee you a place on this course.

Course content

This course examines the relation between identity and the media in the context of migration and transnationalism. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected – not least as a consequence of technological advances that enable information, people and things to move between places and across distances – questions are raised about the consequences of those changes for identity. More particularly, the course examines (i.) how those who move, but also those who don’t, develop a sense of self in an interconnected, mediated world; (ii.) how digital communication connects or disconnects people within and across space and what those connections mean for collective identities, communities and nations; and (iii.) how mediated communication raises or erases boundaries between people – locally, nationally and transnationally. Engaging with a range of theories, case studies and creative activities, the course invites students to develop a globally oriented and critical understanding of identity, media and transnationalism. 

Teaching

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 20 hours across Lent Term. This year, some or all of this teaching will be delivered through a combination of online lectures and in-person classes/classes delivered online. This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of term.

Formative coursework

All students are expected to complete advance reading, prepare seminar presentations, and submit a 1,500 words case study.

Indicative reading

  • Amin, A. (2012) Land of Strangers. Cambridge: Polity.
  • Appadurai, A. (2006) Fear of Small Numbers, Duke University Press.
  • Benjamin, R. (2019) Race after Technology. Cambridge: Polity Press
  • Coates, T-N. (2015) Between the world and me. Melbourne: TPC.
  • Du Gay, P. et al. (eds.) (2000) Identity: A Reader, London: Sage.
  • Hall, S. and P. du Gay (eds.) (1996) Questions of Cultural Identity, Sage.
  • Georgiou, M. (2006) Diaspora, identity and the media, Hampton Press.
  • Gilroy, P. (2004) After Empire: Multiculture or Postcolonial Melancholia, Routledge.
  • Smets, K., K.Leurs, M.Georgiou, S.Witteborn and R. Gajjala (2020) The Sage Handbook of Media and Migraiton, Sage.
  • Yuval-Davis, N., G. Wemyss and C. Cassidy (2019) Bordering, Polity.
  • Werbner, P. (2008) Anthropology and the New Cosmopolitanism: Rooted, Feminist and Vernacular Perspectives, Berg.
  • Vertovec, S (2009) Transnationalism, Routledge.

Assessment

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in the ST.

A 3000-word essay on a case study of students' choice. 

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Teachers' comment

The course examines individual and collective identities at times of growing interconnections across boundaries.

Students' comment

"I would recommend it to people interested in questions of globalisation and identity."

Important information in response to COVID-19

Please note that during 2021/22 academic year some variation to teaching and learning activities may be required to respond to changes in public health advice and/or to account for the differing needs of students in attendance on campus and those who might be studying online. For example, this may involve changes to the mode of teaching delivery and/or the format or weighting of assessments. Changes will only be made if required and students will be notified about any changes to teaching or assessment plans at the earliest opportunity.

Key facts

Department: Media & Communications

Total students 2020/21: 45

Average class size 2020/21: 15

Controlled access 2020/21: Yes

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills

  • Leadership
  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Problem solving
  • Communication
  • Specialist skills