3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

German Media Theory is an advanced course for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, giving an introduction and overview of the specifically German version of Media Studies that first gained traction in the 1980s. The term media refers not just to mass media but more broadly to devices that process, transfer and store information, reaching from the alphabet that changed the culture of writing, or the printing press made famous as the foundation of the ‘Gutenberg galaxy’ to computers and smart phones dominating our current lives. In this course we will cut across disciplinary boundaries to explore the multifaceted roots and formations of German media theory which combine literary poststructuralism, histories of science and technology, psychoanalysis, cybernetics, art history, and philosophy among other fields. Readings include works by Friedrich Kittler, Bernhard Siegert, Cornelia Vismann, Wolfgang Ernst, Walter Benjamin, Niklas Luhmann, Michel Foucault, Marshall McLuhan and many others. The course will be taught in English and all readings will be available in English.