Communication Technology and Culture in History

Catalog description

An advanced study of various interpretive approaches and methodological tools that are central to the analysis of cultural artifacts. COMMS 519 Communication Technology and Culture in History (3) This course is an advanced study of various theoretical approaches that are central to the analysis of communication technology and culture in historical context. It begins with an overview of various communication historiographies, including the works of Harold Innis, Walter Ong, Umberto Eco, Elizabeth Eisenstein, James M. Carey, Marshall McLuhan, Lewis Mumford, and others. It engages students in the critical examination of such critical issues as communication and public memory, discourse in historical context and the historical basis of identity. Students are required to do significant reading and writing in this course, and to propose and conduct historical research employing one of the theories discussed in this course.