MC428 Half Unit
Media Culture and Neoliberalism in the Global South
This information is for the 2025/26 session.
Course Convenor
Dr Wendy Willems
Availability
This course is available on the MPhil/PhD in Media and Communications, 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, Communication and Development and MSc in Politics and Communication. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process.
How to apply: Priority will normally be given to students enrolled on Media and Communications degree programmes; however, course specific availability is indicated via the 'Availability' section of each individual course guide webpage. The number of students that can be accommodated is limited. If a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated at the Department's discretion. Students are advised to have an alternative course in mind in case they are unable to secure their first-choice course selection.
A list of all taught master's courses in this Department are listed on the Department's Course Selection and Videos webpage.
Students who have this course listed as compulsory are guaranteed a place and no written statement is required.
For all other students, places on these controlled access courses will be allocated via a random ballot process with priority given to students with the course listed on their programme regulations, followed by other Department of Media and Communications students, then students from elsewhere in the School. By submitting an application, students are confirming that they meet any pre-requisites specified. Providing an additional written statement will not aid a student's chances of being accepted onto a course that does not require a written statement.
Deadline for application: Students required to take this compulsory course will be automatically enrolled on LSE for You.
All other students must apply by 10am UK time on Friday 26 September 2025. No offers will be made before this deadline. Offers will be made after 10am and will continue until all places are filled.
For queries contact: Contact Media.MSc@lse.ac.uk with queries.
Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.
This course is 'controlled access', meaning that there is a limit to the number of students who can be accepted. If the course is oversubscribed, offers will be made via a random ballot process, with priority given to students with the course listed on their Programme Regulations. Whilst we do our best to accommodate all requests, we cannot guarantee you a place on this course.
Requisites
Additional requisites:
There are no pre-requisites for this course. Students should apply via LSE for You without submitting a statement.
Please do not email the teacher with personal expressions of interest as these are not required and do not influence who is offered a place.
Course content
This course examines media and digital culture from the vantage point of the Global South in the context of the neoliberal turn. The aim of the course is to critically explore whether neoliberalism and neoliberalisation are able to explain processes of change in the Global South. The first part of the course introduces the key concepts of ‘media culture’, ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘Global South’ which will be deployed throughout the course. The second part of the course addresses media and digital culture in the Global South in relation to a number of themes such as nation branding and commodification; informality, materiality and infrastructure; crime, class and structural violence; Pentecostalisation and secularisation; self-help and the neoliberal subject; migration and social relations; and postneoliberalism and colonialism. The course examines these themes through a combination of theoretical readings and interdisciplinary, mostly ethnographic case studies. The course encourages students to critically question, assess and evaluate to what extent the three key concepts in the course are helpful in gaining an understanding of changing media and digital culture in the Global South. Students are equipped with analytical skills that will enable them to draw relations between different processes of change.
Teaching
10 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.
This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.
Formative assessment
Students will complete a formative 1500 word essay.
Indicative reading
- Arora, P. (2019). The next billion users: digital life beyond the West. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Dunn, H. S., Moyo, D., Lesitaokana, W. O., & Barnabas, S. B. (Eds.). (2021). Re-imagining communication in Africa and the Caribbean: Global south issues in media, culture and technology. New York: Springer International Publishing AG.
- Eckstein, L., & Schwarz, A. (2014). Postcolonial piracy: media distribution and cultural production in the Global South. London: Bloomsbury.
- Gómez-Cruz, E., Horst, H., Siles, I., & Soriano, C. (2023). Beyond the tropicalization of concepts: theorizing digital realities with and from the Global South. Communication, Culture and Critique, 16(4), 217-220.
- Iqani, M. (2016). Consumption, media and the Global South: aspiration contested. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Prashad, V. (2013). The poorer nations: a possible history of the global South. London: Verso.
- Shome, R. (2019). When postcolonial studies interrupts media studies. Communication, Culture & Critique, 12(3), 305-322.
- Wilson, J. A. (2018). Neoliberalism. New York: Routledge.
- Zhang, W., & Neyazi, T. A. (2020). Communication and technology theories from the South: the cases of China and India. Annals of the International Communication Association, 44(1), 34-49.
Assessment
Essay (100%, 3000 words)
Key facts
Department: Media and Communications
Course Study Period: Winter Term
Unit value: Half unit
FHEQ Level: Level 7
CEFR Level: Null
Total students 2024/25: 14
Average class size 2024/25: 7
Controlled access 2024/25: YesCourse selection videos
Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.
Personal development skills
- Leadership
- Self-management
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Application of information skills
- Communication