Kursinformation

Dr Ismay Milford

13 x 90 minute seminars, 1 reading week

Wednesdays, 15:00–17:00, GESI 3.16

This course takes information, media and communication as a lens for studying histories of resistance, anticolonialism and Cold War non-alignment during the twentieth century, with a chronological focus on the period 1945-1990 and a geographical focus on Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In an age where ‘information’ appears to be more accessible than ever, ‘information inequality’ remains rife. Between claims of ‘fake news’ and struggles to regulate the World Wide Web, normative models of the relationship between democracy and the public sphere lack explanatory power. How did we get here? Following global history approaches, we can see that information, communication and the media were deeply entangled with empire during the twentieth century. Technologies including printing, radio, telegraphy and satellites could perpetuate notions of cultural and racial superiority and serve as tools of oppression. Yet they also presented opportunities for resistance and, increasingly throughout the period in question, for coordinating political mobilization across national borders. Moreover, historical actors frequently envisaged alternative models for a global information order which could liberate ordinary people from the structures that appeared to dictate their position in the world. All the while, people worked with differing understandings of what ‘information’ or ‘the public sphere’ meant, especially across linguistic divides, meaning that any working definitions of the relevant terms come with limitations. The course makes a broadly chronological arc, with some sessions focused on a conceptual or methodological approach and others around a particular historical case study. An overarching question: Is the domain of media, information and communication one where historians simply read histories of globalization and decolonization unfolding, or has it been part of the making of these histories and of the limits and disappointments of their outcomes?

Course aims:

·         Introduce current conceptual discussions in global history relating to public spheres, information flows, and knowledge production

·         Explore historical alternatives to Western-dominated media and knowledge economies, initiated by actors from the so-called Global South

·         Develop methods of primary source analysis, particularly relating to print cultures

·         Present decolonization and the Cold War through a perspective beyond the high politics of powerful nations and international organizations

·         Outline perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS), environmental history and gender studies and their interaction with global history

Seminar structure: Most seminars will open with an introductory ‘mini-lecture’. Students may be asked to lead some of these in the second half of the course. This will be followed by open discussion of the pre-circulated text(s) and group work on primary sources or key concepts.

Assessment: Formal assessment is through one 3500-word essay, due 28 February 2023. Participation through seminar attendance, contributions to discussions and short presentations will be important preparation for the essay but will not be formally assessed.