MEDIA HISTORY AND THEORY
Course objectives
The course aims to achieve the following objectives: a) to reconstruct the genesis and distinctive features of digital culture; b) to acquire the key concepts and methodological tools of mediological inquiry; c) to integrate formal analysis with sociological investigations of communication.
Channel 1
ANTONIO RAFELE
Lecturers' profile
Program - Frequency - Exams
Course program
In a contiguous sequence of historical images and conceptual reflections, the course will trace a history of media from the nineteenth century to the present. It will examine diverse media environments through a perspective that foregrounds the continuity between the modern metropolis and digital media, while also illuminating the interconnections that arise among technology, the senses, and cognitive functions. The course will further delve into the tools and procedures of knowledge specific to media studies. Topics include: the metropolis and sensory transformations; photography and the reshaping of visual perception; images, shock, and the functions of replay; narratives of everyday life; media, identities, and modes of self-exposure; the observer and the modalities of knowing.
Prerequisites
None
Books
To sit the examination, students are required to study the following texts: Simmel, G., The Metropolis and Mental Life, in Levine, D. (ed.), Georg Simmel on Individuality and Social Forms, Chicago University Press, 1971; McLuhan, M., Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, The MIT Press, 1994.
- Lesson code10606727
- Academic year2025/2026
- CourseTheater, Film and Media
- CurriculumSingle curriculum
- Year1st year
- Semester1st semester
- SSDSPS/08
- CFU6