COMM 6580

Media, Culture & Decolonization

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

In this class, students will learn about mass communications, media systems, new media and the ways in which they interconnect with globalization and decolonization. Here, students will contextualize mass media across national contexts paying attention to the ways in which mass media shapes or is shaped by social, political, cultural and economic factors. They will learn how to do critical comparative analyses of mass media across nations and from these analyses make projections about how the media have and will influence key events intra-nationally and internationally. Key among topics to be discussed in the class are cultural flows, globalization, media imperialism, media and power, media and activism, media and politics, media and gender among others. The class will provide the foundation for understanding the theories on global media hierarchies and hegemony by contextualizing media within the histories of slavery, colonialism, neocolonialism and imperialism. At the end of the class, students are expected to produce the first draft of a research project which can be further revised for conference submission or publication in an academic journal.

Last 4 Terms Offered (None)

Learning Outcomes

• Analyze and compare global media systems.
• Apply critical thinking skills in conducting research
• Demonstrate strong academic writing skills.
• Apply decolonial theories in their research.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the debates in the field as they relate to decolonization.
• Demonstrate culturally proficient communication that empowers those traditionally disenfranchised in society, especially as grounded in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and ability, domestically and globally, across communication and media contexts.
• Create and conduct an independent research project.

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