Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media:Networking, Connectivity, Identity
- Course Code:
- 15PMSH004
- Unit value:
- 0.5
- Year of study:
- Year 1 or Year 2
- Taught in:
- Term 2
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
Many diasporas have developed a range of media channels to bind members and maintain connection with the homeland. Religious communities are amongst the biggest transnational media players, for example in the development of Christian broadcasting channels or the multiplicity of sites for Koranic interpretation on the Net. Transnational political activity is fostered and coordinated through the use of media, the Net and mobile telephony. These practices do not fit into classic studies of national mass media or even international communication. These are new and still emergent practices, growing out of the contemporary lived experience of transnational communities and networks strung out across a variety of locations. They complicate models of 'the West and the Rest' and raise important questions about the limitations of available models of both communications and collectivities.The course introduces students to the key theoretical debates around the network society, identity-formation and representation, and engages them in the critical analysis of the communicative practices of select transnational communities. It will also invite students to think reflexively about their own life trajectory and identity-formation.
