Media Archaeology

The course aims to provide the students with a general knowledge of the conceptual framework and the critical and theoretical tools of media archaeology, characterized by an interdisciplinary methodology that combines philosophy and critical theory with anthropology, the theory and history of cinema and media, and the history of technology. Through the in-depth analysis of selected case studies, the goal of the course is to reframe past, contemporary or emerging media through an investigation of media and dispositives that anticipated them, as well as through an account of the genealogical processes and epistemic constructs that have informed their becoming. The course will particularly emphasise interrupted or dead-end paths, that have been neglected or overlooked from the institutional history of media, and will pay special attention to the complex set of bodily gestures and movements that are connected to media practices and interaction. Through an archaeological approach to media and dispositives, the course aims to offer to the students a critical contribution both to their studies in communication and media, and to their future activities in the professional fields of multimedia communication.

Knowledge and understanding:
The students will develop an awareness of the non-linear and discontinuous character of the history of media, becoming familiar with some of the methodologies proper to media archaeology. They will be able to identify connections between contemporary media and the media of the past, as well as to explain the relationship between the emergence of ideas and concepts in a certain historical epoch and the evolution of technologies and dispositives.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding:
The course will enable the students to put into practice a set of tool to analyse the history of media phenomena and to critically discuss the dominant media trend in history through alternative genealogical trajectories. They will apply the acquired competences to tackle different types of sources for an archaeological investigation of media (literary texts, audio-visual materials, optical and technological dispositives). Relying upon the examination of the case studies, they will be able to apply the conceptual framework addressed by the course to a critical analysis of contemporary media culture. The notions and critical tools acquired will be employed by the students in the various professional fields of communication, especially by those concerned with the design, project and management of media processes.