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The public sphere has emerged as a key concept in current debates on the transformation of the media, the state and democracy in contemporary Europe. This course is designed to conceptualize the mediating infrastructure and processes that have shaped modern Europe, generated democratic legitimacy and grounded collective identity. At the same time, the political, cultural and normative presuppositions of public sphere theory need to be critically scrutinized. In particularly mass media with its traditional print and broadcasting outlets engage a nationally demarcated public and operate on the basis of a shared language and institutional arena of public communication. Against this background, the course will discuss how and to what extent transnationalization of film, media and the public sphere affects structures and processes of political and socio-cultural re-configuration. The seminar schedule provides for a critical reading of the main texts of traditional public sphere theorizing and will approach the ‘rethinking of the public sphere’ in terms of community, media, political authority and normative requirements for democracy in contemporary Europe
The academic objectives of the course are:
- provide the students with a solid understanding of public sphere theorizing and the emergence of the modern public sphere and mass media in core European countries
- Critically scrutinize the normative legacy of public sphere theory and its applicability to European integration
- Understand recent developments of European culture and media policies, with a particular emphasis on film and new media
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