This course engages with contemporary developments and debate in media, communication and culture. We aim for you to be able to question, critique and make your voice stand out from the crowd on topical debates around feminism, identity in a digital world, global and transnational media events, international media industries, distribution networks, memes and viral campaigns, among others. The course aims to critically explore these topics, addressing important issues of the day and responding creatively to media events as they occur. We will work with you to think about how we can apply the most relevant concepts that represent the state of the field, and produce new accounts that address the complexity of contemporary media forms. Assessment employs a range of methods including: digital publishing, websites, blogs, films and short videos, essay films, exhibitions, installations, film festivals, screening programmes, conferences, seminars, awareness raising activities and fieldtrips. On successful completion, you should be able to: demonstrate knowledge of a body of cutting edge theoretical frameworks, concepts, ideas and ways of understanding the world that help make sense of the complexity of contemporary media; show a critical appreciation of the contradictions, subtleties, tensions and difference, and their historical presuppositions, both within and between different bodies of knowledge; and evaluate how and why different bodies of knowledge are employed and applied in different (global) contexts and how they can be used to advance knowledge of different media spheres.