AP/CMDS 1425 3.00

Youth, Media, and Culture

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the examination of media produced and consumed by and for young people. Together we will consider how popular media such as television, film, digital media (including games, music, and social media), and print media shape the production, consumption, and representation of youth and youth cultures. Guided explicitly by the work of media studies, cultural studies, and critical theory, we will interrogate how the media has informed social constructions of youth through the dissemination of representational codes and forms of address. Conceptions of “youth” are ideologically charged and thus, we will pay particular attention to how “youth” have been mobilized as social, historical, and political “influencers.” By critically analyzing themes of belonging, racialization, globalization, and youth activism, we will assess how representations of and for youth are inextricably linked to the social and political environments they inhabit. Relatedly, we will also consider how these representations are exchanged on a local and global scale. Guided by the recognition that young people comprise an important site of cultural production, social conflict/influence, and popular expression, the prevailing aim of this course is to provide students with a space to reflect on their own experiences while also learning about critical debates and issues surrounding young people’s media and young people’s cultures.