Università Roma Tre

This course focuses on the global mediascape, the main domains of popular culture and the many interactions between the two from a historical perspective, touching at the same time upon the major theories elaborated within disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, economics, cultural and media studies. After introducing key notions such as “mass media” and “popular culture” within their historical and geopolitical contexts, we will outline their developments from the 19th century up to date, matched by the ideologies and paradigms that they have generated. The main core of the course will be devoted to exploring single media/technologies such as the printed media (newspapers, magazines, books), photography, telephony, cinema, radio, television and digital media, followed by relevant areas of popular culture such as tourism, gastronomy, counter and subcultures, advertising, fashion, sports and music. All these fields relate to themes that are central to the contemporary debate on society, technology and markets, such as globalization, identity (individual, collective), glamour and soft power, to mention just a few viewpoints allowing us to make sense of the deep societal transformations occurred in the last decades: changes that have been either welcomed with enthusiasm or fiercely opposed, keeping alive a longtime diatribe involving public opinion, industries, governments and academics.

In addition to lecturing and discussions, classes will include slides, pictures and audiovisual examples. The course provides an international gaze at the mediascape, but a few significant case studies will refer to Italy. There is not a textbook, but a choice of readings will be assigned during the course. Students who cannot attend in person must read these two books:

Winston, Brian. Media, Technology and Society: A History: from the Telegraph to the Internet, Taylor & Francis Group, 1998 - PART I, II and IV (chapters 13, 14 and 18)
Betts, Raymond F., and Lyz Bly. A History of Popular Culture: More of Everything, Faster and Brighter, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013.

At the end of the course students are required to write a paper of 1,500 to 2,000 words, whose topic must be agreed with the professor. Details about this and the grading policy will be made available during the course.