SHUM 4610

Media and Elemental Things

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2016-2017.

The pervasiveness of media in and through the planet has rendered the term "media" a muddy one, situated between technics, nature, and human. This seminar develops a set of theoretical frameworks and methodologies for thinking about the ontologies, ecologies, and materialities of media with a particular focus on the relationship between media and the elemental world – the world of clouds, sediment, water, ecological systems, atmospheres, and bodies. How is an understanding of media in relation to elemental materiality transforming the ontological, ecological, intellectual, and political contours of media studies? To explore this topic, this seminar draws material from media studies and new materialism in conversation with perspectives in anthropology, science and technology studies, environmental studies, and art history, and philosophy.

When Offered Spring.

Permission Note Enrollment limited to: 15 students. Intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students.

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