Course information

Dear students,

I very much look forward to meeting you all at the end of January. Below you will find relevant information about the course. Please make sure to read through it carefully to avoid any later confusion.

MEVIT4834 kicks off January 29th and runs for seven weeks straight. It consists of seven interactive lectures and seven student-led seminars. With the exception of the first week, lectures take place on Tuesdays whilst seminars are scheduled Mondays the following week. In the first week, the lecture is planned for Monday the 29th in lieu of the seminar. There is no class Tuesday the 30th. 

In the lectures, we will discuss in general terms some of the most common approaches to and/or methods of textual analysis in media studies: close textual analysis and ideological critique, hermeneutics, psychoanalysis, semiotics, discourse analysis and possible world theory. Many of these pertain to the study of (moving) images, but we will also consider written texts. During the lectures, we will take a closer look at particular themes within these respective approaches. Here we will together read primary texts and students are expected to prepare example analyses - drawing from your own interests. I will further explain the nature of these seminars and your participation during the introductory lecture January 29th.

Textual analysis is a hands-on skill and requires practice. You are therefore expected to be present at, prepared for (i.e. do the reading), and active in each of the classes.

The course material consists of a book and a compendium, as well as a number of articles available online. You can acquire the book and the compendium from Akademika in due course. 

A detailed course programme with dates, topics and reading materials can be found here: http://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/imk/MEVIT4834/v18/textual-analysis-in-media-studies.pdf  

Kind wishes,

Tim