Week 14 Discussion: Cosmopolitanism, Media and Morality

For the last time, HERE are the lecture slides.

Thank you once again for your active participation, infectious energy, and unwavering commitment to the course--and its key message. In the past weeks most especially, your posts, participation, and even feedback from other faculty about your performance have been absolutely delightful. Today, it was indeed but fitting that we finished off with reminders of the challenges that we face as media students/producers/actors/audiences. As many have remarked, Silverstone's call for hospitality to the stranger in the space of appearance is an impossible task, but I think we have been "disturbed" and "cursed" enough from the 14 weeks to engage with the challenge of the mediapolis, to engage with the despair of representation, to engage with the cosmopolitan ideal in everyday life. While I felt sad delivering the lecture today (I was particularly senti when we were reviewing the images we've seen/analyzed before), I also felt that the course had arrived at its rightful conclusion. Your eager, intent faces revealed that, yes, you were ready to engage. As your lecturer, I could not be more pleased.

Feel free to share here the key learning/insight that you will take away from this course. I'm particularly curious to know which topics you find most interesting or relevant. This helps me plan also future iterations of the course syllabus.

Please watch this space for announcements re our exciting creative project presentation day. Case study groups may also wish to schedule final consultations. Happy weekend, everyone!