Media Studies


Faculty List
  • R. Bai, B.A., M.A. (Beijing Foreign Studies), Ph.D. (Illinois), Associate Professor
  • T.L. Cowan, B.A. (Simon Fraser), M.A., Ph.D. (Alberta), Associate Professor
  • J. Cudjoe, B.Sc. (Webber International), M.Sc. (Florida International), Ph.D. (Rutgers), Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream
  • R. Grohmann, B.A. (Juiz de Fora, Brazil), M.A., Ph.D (São Paulo, Brazil), Assistant Professor
  • D. Nieborg, B.A. (Utrecht), M.A. (Utrecht) Ph.D. (Amsterdam), Associate Professor
  • M. Petit, M.A., Ph.D. (Colorado), Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Emeritus
  • T. Phu, B.A., M.A. (McMaster), Ph.D. (California, Berkeley), Professor
  • J. Rault, B.A. (Alberta), M.A. (York), Ph.D. (McGill), Associate Professor
  • S. Yu, B.A. (Simon Fraser), M.I.S. (Yonsei), Ph.D. (Simon Fraser), Associate Professor


A.C.M. Program Manager: Email: acm-pm@utsc.utoronto.ca

Media are ubiquitous in contemporary society. Every aspect of human experience – the personal, social, economic, political, cultural, moral, and aesthetic – is mediated. We live in a world that is increasingly fragmented yet globally connected; a world saturated with fast-paced, intensive online and mobile communication and the accompanying ads that pay for it; a world in which new documentary formats and interactive ways of knowing about the world such as Virtual Reality (V.R.) are appearing; a world in which YouTube, Snapchat and Social Media have replaced traditional network television for many as sources of news about current events and issues. We live in a world where individuals and the cultural industries and institutions that produce, control, and disseminate media texts and images operate as consciousness industries that influence how we understand ourselves and the world around us. They compete for our attention 24/7, and the distinction between "everyday reality" and "media reality" is becoming increasingly blurred for many. At the same time, the development of digital technologies and the forms of new media they make possible are in the process of destabilizing these very same cultural industries and institutions, including traditional understandings of the role of media and journalism in a democratic capitalist society.

Related Programs
Major (Joint) Program in New Media Studies
Students interested in systematic practice-based and industry-specific training in digital media design and communication should consider applying to the Major (Joint) Program in New Media Studies offered in partnership with Centennial College and listed in the New Media Studies section of the Calendar. Interested students should complete the core first-year courses and submit a Supplementary Application form by the end of the Winter session, please refer to the New Media Studies Program website for details.

Specialist (Joint) Program in Journalism
Students interested in systematic practice-based and industry-specific training as a journalist should consider applying to the Specialist (Joint) Program in Journalism, offered in partnership with Centennial College and listed in the Journalism section of the Calendar. Interested students should contact the ACM Program Manager.

Notes:

  1. Students cannot combine the Minor Program in Media Studies with the Major Program in Media Studies (any of the two streams).
  2. Students cannot combine the Major Program in Media, Journalism and Digital Cultures – Media Studies Stream with the Major Program in Media, Journalism and Digital Cultures – Journalism Stream.
  3. The Major in Media, Journalism and Digital Cultures cannot be combined with the Specialist in Journalism.

Experiential Learning and Outreach
For a community-based experiential learning opportunity in your academic field of interest, consider the course CTLB03H3, which can be found in the Teaching and Learning section of the Calendar.

media studies Programs

MAJOR PROGRAM IN MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES - Journalism Studies Stream (ARTS) - SCMAJJSS2

Undergraduate Advisor: Email: mds-undergrad-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca

In the context of the complexity of the contemporary media environment and journalism’s central role in how information is disseminated, the Major in Media, Journalism and Digital Cultures has two streams: Media Studies and Journalism Studies. Through common core courses and courses unique to each stream, students consider the ubiquity of media in contemporary society and examine media’s cultural, political, economic, and social implications. Because media is centrally placed as a means through which democratic discussion occurs in the public sphere, the development of media literacy skills is crucial in maintaining an informed citizenry and paramount to students’ individual empowerment.

As media scholar W. James Potter has written: “Becoming more media literate gives you a much clearer perspective to see the border between your real world and the world manufactured by the media. When you are media literate, you have clear maps to help you navigate better in the media world so that you can get to those experiences and information you want without becoming distracted by those things that harm you.” (Media Literacy, 2012)

The Media Studies Stream offers students theoretical and critical thinking tools to examine what it means to live in a highly-mediated, media-focused visual and auditory culture. Students study how media works in today’s world at local, regional and global scales; the history of media and technology and its development and use across different cultures; how media industries manufacture, manage, and disseminate information; and how media form and content shape knowledge and meaning from historical, philosophical, cinematic and artistic perspectives, among many others. In studying media, students hone their media literacy skills and learn to critically evaluate the content of media and analyze its underlying ideologies and their implications within the cultural, political, economic, and social realms.

While all forms of journalism are examples of media, not all media are journalistic in nature. The Journalism Studies Stream is ideal for students who are interested in studying media with a specific focus on journalism, the news media industry, as well as journalism’s form, function and meaning in a global and democratic society. It offers a comprehensive program of study and research with an emphasis on scholarly, conceptual understandings of journalism, including how journalism functions as an agent of change. It provides students a critical understanding of the role of journalism, its relationship to new technologies, and how cultures of information sharing are in the process of social change and what this means from cultural, political, economic, and social points of view. In critically studying journalism, students hone their media literacy skills to comprehend, navigate, and adapt to today’s complicated and ever changing media environment, whether as journalists, policy advocates, or simply as informed citizens.

Guide to Course Selection
The Media Studies and Journalism Studies streams require 4.0 credits as a common core.

During their first year, students in both streams should take MDSA01H3 Introduction to Media Studies, and MDSA02 History of Media. Students in the Journalism Studies stream should also take JOUA01H3 Introduction to Journalism and News Literacy I and JOUA02H3 Introduction to Journalism II.



Program Requirements
Students must complete 8.0 credits including 2.0 credits at the C- or D-level:

Core (3.0 credits)

1. Introductory Courses (1.0 credit):
MDSA10H3 Media Foundations
MDSA11H3 Media Ethics

2. 0.5 credit from the following (please note that you can only enroll in a maximum of 0.5 credit from the following list:
MDSB11H3 Media and the Arts

MDSB21H3 Media and Society

MDSB31H3 Media and Institutions

3. 1.5 additional credits at MDS B-level

4. 0.5 additional credits at MDS C-level

Media Studies Stream (5.0 credits)

5. MDSA13H3 Media Histories

6. 1.5 additional credits at MDSB-level

7. 2.0 additional credits at MDS C-level including 0.5 credits from the following (please note that you can enroll in a maximum of 0.5 credit from the following list):
MDSC10H3 Advanced Studies in Media and Arts

MDSC20H3 Advanced Studies in Media and Society

MDSC30H3 Advanced Studies in Media and Institutions

8. 0.5 credit from the following (please note that you can enroll in a maximum of 0.5 credit from the following list):
MDSD10H3 Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Arts
MDSD20H3 Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Society
MDSD30H3 Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Institutions

Journalism Studies Stream (5.0 credits)

5. 1.0 credit as follows:
JOUA01H3 Introduction to Journalism and News Literacy I
JOUA02H3 Introduction to Journalism II

6. 2.0 credits as follows:
JOUB01H3 Covering Immigration and Transnational Issues
JOUB02H3 Critical Journalism
JOUB24H3 Journalism in the Age of Digital Media
JOUB39H3 Fundamentals of Journalistic Writing

7. 1.0 additional credit at JOUC-level:

JOUC11H3 Media Activism
JOUC22H3 Understanding Scandals
JOUC30H3 Critical Approaches to Style, Form and Narrative
JOUC31H3 Journalism, Information Sharing and Technological Change
JOUC60H3 Diasporic Media
JOUC62H3 Media, Journalism and Digital Labour
JOUC80H3 Understanding Audiences in the Digital Age

8. 0.5 additional credit at JOUD-level (except JOUD10H3)

MAJOR PROGRAM IN MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES - Media Studies Stream (ARTS) - SCMAJMSS2

Undergraduate Advisor: Email: acm-pm@utsc.utoronto.ca

In the context of the complexity of the contemporary media environment and journalism’s central role in how information is disseminated, the Major in Media and Communication Studies has two streams: Media Studies and Journalism Studies. Through common core courses and courses unique to each stream, students consider the ubiquity of media in contemporary society and examine media’s cultural, political, economic, and social implications in the contexts of class, race, gender, sexuality, and other forms of diversity with a focus on national and transnational intersectional perspectives. The program also highlights three critical cluster areas that inform the critical study of media: (i) media and the arts; (ii) media and society; (iii) media and institutions. Because media is centrally placed as a means through which democratic discussion occurs in the public sphere, the development of media literacy skills is crucial in maintaining an informed citizenry and paramount to students’ individual empowerment. Students can navigate through the program flexibly across the three cluster areas, while also developing the capacity to recognize how these clusters relate to one another and the contexts in which they intersect to shape identities and communities and to influence power relations.

The Media Studies Stream offers students theoretical and analytical tools, alongside digital methods, to examine what it means to live in a highly-mediated, media-focused visual and auditory culture. Students study how media works in today’s world at local, regional and global scales; the history of media and technology and its development and use across different cultures; how media industries manufacture, manage, and circulate information; and how media form and content shape knowledge and meaning from historical, philosophical, and artistic perspectives, among many others. In studying media, students hone their media literacy skills and learn to critically evaluate the content of media and analyze its underlying ideologies and their implications within the distinct yet intersecting realms of art, society, and institutions.

While all forms of journalism are examples of media, not all media are journalistic in nature. The Journalism Studies Stream is ideal for students who are interested in studying media with a specific focus on journalism, the news media industry, as well as journalism’s form, function and meaning in a global and democratic society. It offers a comprehensive program of study and research with an emphasis on scholarly, conceptual understandings of journalism, including how journalism functions as an agent of change. It provides students a critical understanding of the role of journalism, its relationship to new technologies, and how cultures of information sharing are in the process of social change and what this means from cultural, political, economic, and social points of view. In critically studying journalism, students hone their media literacy skills to comprehend, navigate, and adapt to today’s complicated and ever-changing media environment, whether as journalists, policy advocates, or simply as informed citizens.

Guide to Course Selection
The Media Studies and Journalism Studies streams require 4.0 credits as a common core. During their first year, students in both streams should take MDSA10H3 Media Foundations, and MDSA13H3 Media Ethics. In addition to these shared courses, students in the Media Studies stream should take MDSA13H3 Media Histories. Students in the Journalism Studies stream should also take JOUA01H3 Introduction to Journalism and News Literacy I and JOUA02H3 Introduction to Journalism II.

Program Requirements
Students must complete 8.0 credits including 2.0 credits at the C- or D-level:

Core (3.5 credits)

1. Introductory Courses (1.0 credit):
MDSA10H3 Media Foundations
MDSA11H3 Media Ethics

2. 0.5 credit from the following (please note that you can enroll in a maximum of 0.5 credit from the following list):
MDSB11H3 Media and the Arts
MDSB21H3 Media and Society
MDSB31H3 Media and Institutions

3. 1.5 additional credits at MDSB-level

4. 0.5 additional credits at MDSC-level

Media Studies Stream (4.5 credits)

5. MDSA13H3 Media Histories

6. 1.5 additional credits at MDSB-level

7. 2.0 additional credits at MDSC-level including 0.5 credits from the following (please note that you can enroll in a maximum of 0.5 credit from the following list):
MDSC10H3 Advanced Studies in Media and the Arts
MDSC20H3 Advanced Studies in Media and Society
MDSC30H3 Advanced Studies in Media and Institutions

8. 0.5 credit from the following (please note that you can enroll in a maximum of 0.5 credit from the following list):
MDSD10H3 Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Arts
MDSD20H3 Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Society
MDSD30H3 Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Institutions

MINOR PROGRAM IN MEDIA STUDIES (ARTS) - SCMINMDS

Undergraduate Advisor: Email: mds-undergrad-advisor@utsc.utoronto.ca

Program Requirements
Students must complete 4.0 credits, including 1.0 credit at the C- or D-level:

1. 1.0 credits as follows:
MDSA11H3 Media Ethics
MDSA13H3 Media Histories

2. 2.0 credits at MDS B-level

3. 1.0 additional credit in MDS C-level courses (please note that you can enroll in a maximum of 1.0 credits at MDS C-level).

 

Media Studies Courses

JOUB21H3 - Witnessing and Bearing Witness

Journalists must observe and understand while responsibly contextualizing and communicating. This course critically examines the motivations and methods of how current events are witnessed but also how changing journalistic forms mediate the social function of bearing witness to communicate a diversity of experiences across matrices of time, space, power, and privilege.

Prerequisite: Enrollment in Major program in Media Studies and Journalism – Journalism Stream or Enrolment in the Specialist (Joint) Program in Journalism
Exclusion: (ACMB02H3)
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences

MDSA10H3 - Media Foundations

A survey of foundational critical approaches to media studies, which introduces students to transnational and intersectional perspectives on three core themes in Media Studies: arts, society, and institutions.

Corequisite: MDSA12H3
Exclusion: (MDSA01H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSA11H3 - Media Ethics

Introduces students to ethical issues in media. Students learn theoretical aspects of ethics and apply them to media industries and practices in the context of advertising, public relations, journalism, mass media entertainment, and online culture.

Exclusion: (JOUC63H3), (MDSC43H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSA12H3 - Writing for Media Studies

An introduction to diverse forms and genres of writing in Media Studies, such as blog entries, Twitter essays, other forms of social media, critical analyses of media texts, histories, and cultures, and more. Through engagement with published examples, students will identify various conventions and styles in Media Studies writing and develop and strengthen their own writing and editing skills.

Exclusion: ACMB01H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSA13H3 - Media History

This course surveys the history of media and communication from the development of writing through the printing press, newspaper, telegraph, radio, film, television and internet. Students examine the complex interplay among changing media technologies and cultural, political and social changes, from the rise of a public sphere to the development of highly-mediated forms of self identity.

Prerequisite:  MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3) 
Exclusion: (MDSA02H3) 
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSB05H3 - Media and Globalization

This course examines the role of technological and cultural networks in mediating and facilitating the social, economic, and political processes of globalization. Key themes include imperialism, militarization, global political economy, activism, and emerging media technologies. Particular attention is paid to cultures of media production and reception outside of North America.

Same as GASB05H3

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits and MDSA01H3
Exclusion: GASB05H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSB09H3 - Kids These Days: Youth, Language and Media

Around the world, youth is understood as liminal phase in our lives. This course examines how language and new media technologies mark the lives of youth today. We consider social media, smartphones, images, romance, youth activism and the question of technological determinism. Examples drawn fromm a variety of contexts.
Same as ANTB35H3

Prerequisite: ANTA02H3 or MDSA01H3 or [any 4.0 credits in ANT, HLT, IDS, CIT, GGR, POL, SOC or HCS courses]
Exclusion: ANTB35H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB11H3 - Media and the Arts

A course that explores the media arts, with a focus on the creation and circulation of artistic and cultural works including photographs, films, games, gifs, memes and more. Through this exploration, students will develop critical skills to engage with these forms and genres, and investigate their capacity to produce meaning and shape our political, cultural, and aesthetic realities. This course will also introduce students to creation-based research (research-creation) methods.
Prerequisite:
Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3]  
 
 
 
 

Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB12H3 - Visual Culture

Visual Culture studies the construction of the visual in art, media, technology and everyday life. Students learn the tools of visual analysis; investigate how visual depictions such as YouTube and advertising structure and convey ideologies; and study the institutional, economic, political, social, and market factors in the making of contemporary visual culture.

Prerequisite: MDSA01H3 and MDSA02H3
Exclusion: (MDSB62H3) (NMEB20H3)
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB14H3 - Human, Animal, Machine

What makes humans humans, animals animals, and machines machines? This course probes the leaky boundaries between these categories through an examination of various media drawn from science fiction, contemporary art, film, TV, and the critical work of media and posthumanist theorists on cyborgs, genetically-modified organisms, and other hybrid creatures.

Corequisite: MDSB10H3 or (MDSA01H3)
Exclusion: (IEEB01H3), (MDSB01H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSB16H3 - Indigenous Media Studies

This course centres Indigenous critical perspectives on media studies to challenge the colonial foundations of the field. Through examination of Indigenous creative expression and critique, students will analyze exploitative approaches, reexamine relationships to land, and reorient connections with digital spaces to reimagine Indigenous digital world-making.

Prerequisite: [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] or VPHA46H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language
Note: Priority enrolment is for MDS, VPH and JOU students

MDSB17H3 - Popular Culture and Media Studies

An exploration of critical approaches to the study of popular culture that surveys diverse forms and genres, including television, social media, film, photography, and more. Students will learn key concepts and theories with a focus on the significance of processes of production, representation, and consumption in mediating power relations and in shaping identity and community in local, national, and global contexts.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB20H3 - Media, Science and Technology Studies

This course offers an introduction to the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) as it contributes to the field of media studies. We will explore STS approaches to media technologies, the materiality of communication networks, media ecologies, boundary objects and more. This will ask students to consider the relationship between things like underground cables and colonialism, resource extraction (minerals for media technologies) and economic exploitation, plants and border violences, Artificial Intelligence and policing.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Exclusion: (MDSB20H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSB21H3 - Media and Society

This course introduces students to perspectives and frameworks to critically analyze complex media-society relations. How do we understand media in its textual, cultural technological, institutional forms as embedded in and shaped by various societal forces? How do modern media and communication technologies impact the ways in which societies are organized and social interactions take place? To engage with these questions, we will be closely studying contemporary media texts, practices and phenomena while drawing upon insights from various disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, art history and visual culture, and cultural studies.

Prerequisite: Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB22H3 - Feminist Media Studies

This course offers an introduction to the major topics, debates and issues in contemporary Feminist Media Studies – from digital coding and algorithms to film, television, music and social networks – as they interact with changing experiences, expressions and possibilities for gender, race, sexuality, ethnicity and economic power in their social and cultural contexts. We will explore questions such as: how do we study and understand representations of gender, race and sexuality in various media? Can algorithms reproduce or interrupt racism and sexism? What roles can media play in challenging racial, gendered, sexual and economic violence? How can media technologies normalize or transform relations of oppression and exploitation in specific social and cultural contexts?

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB23H3 - Media and Militarization

Media not only represents war; it has also been deployed to advance the ends of war, and as part of antiwar struggles. This course critically examines the complex relationship between media and war, with focus on historicizing this relationship in transnational contexts.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB25H3 - Political Economy of Media

This course follows money in media industries. It introduces a variety of economic theories and methods to analyse cultural production and circulation, and the organization of media and communication companies. These approaches are used to better understand the political economy of digital platforms, apps, television, film, and games.

Prerequisite: MDSA01H3 and MDSA02H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB29H3 - Mapping New Media

This course introduces students to the key terms and concepts in new media studies as well as approaches to new media criticism. Students examine the myriad ways that new media contribute to an ongoing reformulation of the dynamics of contemporary society, including changing concepts of community, communication, identity, privacy, property, and the political.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Exclusion: (MDSB61H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSB30H3 - Social Media and Digital Culture

This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary and transnational field of media studies that helps us to understand the ways that social media and digital culture have impacted social, cultural, political, economic and ecological relations. Students will be introduced to Social Media and Digital Cultural studies of social movements, disinformation, changing labour conditions, algorithms, data, platform design, environmental impacts and more

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Exclusion: CCT331H5, (MDSB15H3)
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB31H3 - Media and Institutions

This course follows the money in the media industries. It introduces a variety of economic theories, histories, and methods to analyse the organization of media and communication companies. These approaches are used to better understand the critical political economy of media creation, distribution, marketing and monetization.

Prerequisite: Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB33H3 - Media and Consumer Cultures

This course introduces students to the study of advertising as social communication and provides a historical perspective on advertising's role in the emergence and perpetuation of "consumer culture". The course examines the strategies employed to promote the circulation of goods as well as the impact of advertising on the creation of new habits and expectations in everyday life.

Prerequisite: MDSA10H3 or SOCB58H3 or (MDSA01H3)
Exclusion: (MDSB03H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSB34H3 - Comparative Media Industries

This course provides an overview of various segments of the media industries, including music, film, television, social media entertainment, games, and digital advertising. Each segment’s history, business models, and labour practices will be examined taking a comparative media approach.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSB35H3 - Platform Labour

The course explores the different types of platform labour around the world, including micro-work, gig work and social media platforms. It presents aspects of the platformization of labour, as algorithmic management, datafication, work conditions and platform infrastructures. The course also emphasizes workers' organization, platform cooperativism and platform prototypes.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC01H3 - Theories in Media Studies

This is an advanced seminar for third and fourth year students on theories applied to the study of media.

Prerequisite: 2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC02H3 - Media, Identities and Politics

This course explores the centrality of mass media such as television, film, the Web, and mobile media in the formation of multiple identities and the role of media as focal points for various cultural and political contestations.

Prerequisite: 2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses
Breadth Requirements: Social and Behavioural Sciences

MDSC10H3 - Advanced Studies in Media and the Arts

A seminar that explores historical and contemporary movements and issues in media art as well as creation-based research methods that integrate media studies inquiry and analysis through artistic and media-making practice and experimentation.

Prerequisite: Enrollment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and 3.0 credits at MDS B-level and a minimum GPA of 3.3 in MDS A-, B- and C-level courses
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC12H3 - Trans-Feminist Queer Media Studies

This course builds on a foundation in Feminist Media Studies to engage the scholarly field of Trans-Feminist Queer (TFQ) Media Studies. While these three terms (trans, feminist and queer) can bring us to three separate areas of media studies, this course immerses students in scholarship on media and technology that is shaped by and committed to their shared critical, theoretical and political priorities. This scholarship centers transgender, feminist and queer knowledges and experiences to both understand and reimagine the ways that media and communication technologies contribute to racial, national, ethnic, gender, sexual and economic relations of power and possibility.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level including MDSB22H3] or [Enrolment in the Minor in Media Studies and 2.0 credits at the MDS B-level including MDSB22H3]
Exclusion: (MDSC02H3)
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC13H3 - Popular Music and Media Cultures

This course explores the importance of sound and sound technology to visual media practices by considering how visuality in cinema, video, television, gaming, and new media art is organized and supported by aural techniques such as music, voice, architecture, and sound effects.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Exclusion: (MDSB63H3)
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC20H3 - Advanced Studies in Media and Society

This seminar provides students with a theoretical toolkit to understand, analyze and evaluate media-society relations in the contemporary world. Students will, through reading and writing, become familiar with social theories that intersect with questions and issues related to media production, distribution and consumption. These theories range from historical materialism, culturalism, new materialism, network society, public sphere, feminist and queer studies, critical race theory, disability media theories, and so on. Special attention is paid to the mutually constitutive relations between digital media and contemporary societies and cultures.

Prerequisite: Enrollment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies, and 3.0 credits at MDS B-level and a minimum GPA of 3.3 in MDS A-, B- and C-level courses
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC21H3 - Anthropology of Language and Media

Anthropology studies language and media in ways that show the impact of cultural context. This course introduces this approach and also considers the role of language and media with respect to intersecting themes: ritual, religion, gender, race/ethnicity, power, nationalism, and globalization. Class assignments deal with lectures, readings, and students' examples.
Same as ANTC59H3

Prerequisite: [ANTB19H3 and ANTB20H3] or [MDSA01H3 and MDSB05H3]
Exclusion: (MDSB02H3), (ANTB21H3), ANTC59H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC22H3 - Understanding Scandals

This course focuses on modern-day scandals, ranging from scandals of politicians, corporate CEOs, and celebrities to scandals involving ordinary people. It examines scandals as conditioned by technological, social, cultural, political, and economic forces and as a site where meanings of deviances of all sorts are negotiated and constructed. It also pays close attention to media and journalistic practices at the core of scandals.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA12H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3] ] or [Enrolment in the Minor Program in Media Studies and MDSA11H3 and [MDSA13H3 or (MDSA02H3)] ]
Exclusion: SOC342H5, (MDSC35H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC23H3 - Black Media Studies

This course explores Black media production, representation, and consumption through the analytical lenses of Black diaspora studies, critical race studies, political economy of media and more. Themes include, Black media histories, radical traditions, creative expression, and social movements. Students will explore various forms of media production created and influenced by Black communities globally. The course readings and assignments examine the interconnection between the lived cultural, social, and historical experiences of the African diaspora and the media artefacts they create as producers, or they are referenced as subjects. Students will critically examine media artefacts (music, television shows, movies, social media content) through various lenses, including race and gender theory, rhetoric, visual communication, and digital media analysis.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies - Media Studies stream and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level] or [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies - Journalism stream and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level/JOU B-level] or [Enrolment in the Minor program in Media Studies and 2.0 credits at the MDS B-level]

MDSC24H3 - Selfies and Society

Selfies are an integral component of contemporary media culture and used to sell everyone from niche celebrities to the Prime Minister. This class examines the many meanings of selfies to trace their importance in contemporary media and digital cultures as well as their place within, and relationship to, historically and theoretically grounded concepts of photography and self portraiture.

Prerequisite: [2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses] or [2.0 credits at the B-level in JOU courses] or [4.5 credits from the Major (Joint) program in New Media Studies Group I and Group II courses]
Exclusion: (MDSC66H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC25H3 - Understanding Audiences in the Digital Age

Understanding the interests and goals of audiences is a key part of media production. This course introduces communication research methods including ratings, metrics, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. The focus of class discussion and research project is to use these methods to be able to understand the nature of audiences’ media use in the digital age.

Same as JOUC80H3

Prerequisite: [2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses] or [2.0 credits at the B-level in JOU courses] or [4.5 credits from the Major (Joint) program in New Media Studies Group I and Group II courses]
Exclusion: JOUC80H3, (MDSC80H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC26H3 - Media, Technology & Disability Justice

This course will examine Critical Disability Studies as it intersects with and informs Media Studies and Science & Technology Studies with a focus on the advancement of disability justice goals as they relate to topics that may include: interspecies assistances and co-operations, military/medical technologies that enhance "ability," the possibilities and limitations of cyborg theory for a radical disabilities politics and media practice informed by the disability justice ethics of “nothing about us without us.”

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level including MDSB21H3] or [Enrolment in the Minor program in Media Studies and 2.0 credits at the MDS B-level including MDSB21H3]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC27H3 - Digital Research Ethics

This course will examine ethical considerations for conducting digital research with a focus on privacy, consent, and security protections, especially as these issues affect underrepresented and minoritized communities.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level] or [Enrolment in the Minor program in Media Studies and 2.0 credits at the MDS B-level]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC28H3 - Data and Artificial Intelligence

The course explores critical data studies and considers critical understandings of artificial intelligence, with a focus on topics that may include algorithmic fairness, data infrastructures, AI colonialism, algorithmic resistance, and interplays between race/gender/sexuality issues and data/artificial intelligence.

Prerequisite: [3.0 credits at MDS B-level and enrolment in Major program in Media and Communication Studies - Media Studies stream] or [3.0 credits at MDS B-level/JOU B-level and enrolment in Major program in Media and Communication Studies - Journalism Studies stream] or [2.0 credits at the MDS B-level and enrolment in the Minor program in Media Studies]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC29H3 - Media and Religion

The advancement of religious concepts and movements has consistently been facilitated - and contested - by contemporaneous media forms, and this course considers the role of media in the creation, development, and transmission of religion(s), as well as the challenges posed to modern religiosities in a digital era.

Prerequisite: 2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC30H3 - Advanced Studies in Media and Institutions

This seminar elaborates on foundational concepts and transformations in the media industries, such as conglomeration, platformization, datafication, and digitization. Taking a global perspective, emerging industry practices will be discussed, such as gig labour, digital advertising, and cryptocurrency.

Prerequisite: Enrollment in Major program in Media and Communication Studies; and 3.0 credits at MDS B-level and a minimum GPA of 3.3 in MDS A-, B- and C-level courses
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC31H3 - Platforms and Cultural Production

This course focuses on the process of platformization and how it impacts cultural production. It provides an introduction into the fields of software, platform, and app studies. The tenets of institutional platform power will be discussed, such as economics, infrastructure, and governance, as well as questions pertaining to platform labour, digital creativity, and democracy.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies - Media Studies stream and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level] or [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies - Journalism stream and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level/JOU B-level] or [Enrolment in the Minor program in Media Studies and 2.0 credits at the MDS B-level]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC32H3 - Chinese Media and Politics

The course introduces students to contemporary Chinese media. It explores the development of Chinese media in terms of production, regulation, distribution and audience practices, in order to understand the evolving relations between the state, the market, and society as manifested in China’s news and entertainment industries. The first half of the course focuses on how journalistic practices have been impacted by the changing political economy of Chinese media. The second half examines China’s celebrity culture, using it as a crucial lens to examine contemporary Chinese media.

Prerequisite: [Enrolment in the Major program in Media and Communication Studies and 3.0 credits at the MDS B-level] or [Enrolment in the Minor program in Media Studies and 2.0 credits at the MDS B-level]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC33H3 - Games and Play

This course introduces students to academic perspectives on games and play. Students develop a critical understanding of a variety of topics and discussions related to games, gamification, and play in the physical and virtual world.

Prerequisite: [2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses] or [4.5 credits from the Major (Joint) program in New Media Studies Group I and Group II courses]
Exclusion: (MDSC65H3)
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC34H3 - Diasporic Media

New media technologies enable more production and distribution of culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse voices than ever before. Who produces these diverse voices and how accessible are these media? This course explores various types of diasporic media from century-old newspapers to young and hip news and magazine blogs, produced by and for members of a multicultural society.

Same as JOUC60H3

Prerequisite: [2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses] or [2.0 credits at the B-level in JOU courses] or [4.5 credits from the Major (Joint) program in New Media Studies Group I and Group II courses]
Exclusion: JOUC60H3, (MDSC60H3)
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC37H3 - Media, Journalism and Digital Labour

This course explores themes of labour in news media and new media. Topics include labour conditions for media workers across sectors; the labour impacts of media convergence; and the global distribution of media labour including content generation and management. The course is structured by intersectional analyses, studying how race and racism, class, gender, sex and sexism, sexuality, nationality, global location and citizenship status, Indigeneity and religion shape our experiences of media, journalism and labour.

Same as JOUC62H3

Prerequisite: [ [MDSA10H3 or (MDSA01H3)] and MDSB05H3] or [JOUA01H3 and JOUA02H3]] or [4.5 credits from the Major (Joint) program in New Media Studies Group I and Group II courses]
Exclusion: JOUC62H3, (MDSC62H3)
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC40H3 - Chinese Media and Politics

This course examines the complex and dynamic interplay of media and politics in contemporary China and the role of the government in this process.
Same as GASC40H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits
Exclusion: GASC40H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC41H3 - Media and Popular Culture in East Asia

This course introduces students to media industries and commercial popular cultural forms in East Asia. Topics include reality TV, TV dramas, anime and manga, as well as issues such as regional cultural flows, global impact of Asian popular culture, and the localization of global media in East Asia.
Same as GASC41H3

Prerequisite: Any 4.0 credits
Exclusion: GASC41H3
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC53H3 - Anthropology of Media and Publics

How do media work to circulate texts, images, and stories? Do media create unified publics? How is the communicative process of media culturally-distinct? This course examines how anthropologists have studied communication that occurs through traditional and new media. Ethnographic examples drawn from several contexts.
Same as ANTC53H3

Prerequisite: [ANTB19H3 and ANTB20H3] or [MDSA01H3 and MDSB05H3]
Exclusion: ANTC53H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC61H3 - Alternative Media

This course examines the history, organization and social role of a range of independent, progressive, and oppositional media practices. It emphasizes the ways alternative media practices, including the digital, are the product of and contribute to political movements and perspectives that challenge the status quo of mainstream consumerist ideologies.

Prerequisite: [2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses] or [2.0 credits at the B-level in JOU courses] or [4.5 credits from the Major (Joint) program in New Media Studies Group I and Group II courses]
Breadth Requirements: History, Philosophy and Cultural Studies

MDSC64H3 - Media and Technology

Media are central to organizing cultural discourse about technology and the future. This course examines how the popularization of both real and imagined technologies in various media forms contribute to cultural attitudes that attend the introduction and social diffusion of new technologies.

Prerequisite: [2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses] or [4.5 credits from the Major (Joint) program in New Media Studies Group I and Group II courses]
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

MDSC85H3 - Movies, Music and Meaning

This course examines the synergistic relationship between the moving image and music and how these synergies result in processes of meaning-making and communication. Drawing on readings in cultural theory, cultural studies, musicology and film studies, the course considers examples from the feature film, the Hollywood musical, and the animated cartoon.


Same as MUZC20H3/(VPMC85H3)

Prerequisite: [2.0 credits at the B-level in MDS courses] or [2.0 credits at the B-level in MUZ/(VPM) courses]
Exclusion: MUZC20H3/(VPMC85H3)
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language
Note: No Specialist knowledge in Musicology or Film Studies required.

MDSD10H3 - Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Arts

This is a senior seminar that focuses on the connections among media and the arts. Students explore how artists use the potentials offered by various media forms, including digital media, to create new ways of expression. Topics vary.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in MDS courses, including 1.0 credit at the C-level
Exclusion: (MDSD01H3)
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

MDSD11H3 - Senior Research Seminar in Media and Journalism

Focusing on independent research, this course requires students to demonstrate the necessary analysis, research and writing skills required for advanced study. This seminar course provides the essential research skills for graduate work and other research-intensive contexts. Students will design and undertake unique and independent research about the state of journalism.
Same as JOUD11H3

Prerequisite: ACMB02H3 and [an additional 4.5 credits in MDS or JOU courses, 1.0 credit of which must be at the C-level]
Exclusion: JOUD11H3
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

MDSD20H3 - Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Society

This is a senior seminar that focuses on media and society. It explores the social and political implications of media, including digital media, and how social forces shape their development. Topics vary.

Prerequisite: 3.0 credits in MDS courses, including 1.0 credit at the C-level
Exclusion: (MDSD02H3)
Course Experience: University-Based Experience

MDSD30H3 - Senior Seminar: Topics in Media and Institutions

This is a senior seminar that closely examines media as institutions such as media regulatory bodies, firms, and organizations, as well as media in relation to other institutions in broader political economies. In this course, students will have the opportunity to interrogate key theoretical concepts developed in critical media industry studies and apply them to real-life cases through research and writing.

Prerequisite: Enrollment in Major program in Media and Communication Studies and 2.5 credits at MDS C-level
Breadth Requirements: Arts, Literature and Language

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