A Public Lecture by Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner AO,
Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, The University of Queensland

*Please note that this lecture has been postponed. New date to be advised.*

Media Studies, Cultural Studies, and the Critical Imperative in the Digital Era

As the fields of media and cultural studies continue the process of tooling up their methods and approaches for the digital era, and as the transitions shaping the media field continue to challenge those who examine it, it is no longer entirely clear what might be the most important focus of attention for those of us who research or teach about the contemporary media. Professor Turner suggests that, whatever the specifics of the course of action we decide to pursue, an overarching objective must be the reaffirmation of the strong tradition of critical scrutiny in the public interest that marked so much of the media studies conducted during the era of mass media and which, he argues, has lost its prominence during the digital era. In this lecture, drawing upon arguments made in the conclusion of his most recent collection, Essays in Media and Cultural Studies: In Transition (Routledge, 2020), Professor Turner deals with that critical imperative from a number of different perspectives: taking account of our disciplines’ location within a complex of national higher education systems that are themselves at varying points in a significant process of transition; considering the consequences of the media’s evolution for the wider public as the production of community and the structure of the public sphere are being transformed; highlighting what now appear to be the key points for scrutiny of the industries we study; and, finally, considering all of this in terms of the contributions that could come from a revived culture of exchange and collaboration between the disciplines of media and cultural studies.

Graeme Turner is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. Among the founding figures in media and cultural studies in Australia, his many books are widely read around the world, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. A former president of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, a Federation Fellow, and the founding director of the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland, he has also been a significant contributor to research policy in Australia, and a vigorous advocate for the humanities disciplines within the higher education sector. Over the last several decades his research has focused on television, new media, and the production of community, with the most recent work examining in particular the troubled relationship between the media and the democratic state. His recent publications include ReInventing the Media (Routledge, 2016), (with David Rowe and Emma Waterton) Making Culture: Commercialisation, Transnationalism and the State of ‘Nationing’ in Contemporary Australia (Routledge, 2018), and Essays in Media and Cultural Studies: In Transition (Routledge, 2020).

 

6pm Thursday 30th April 2020

Venue To Be Advised

The University of Queensland, St Lucia

Please contact iash@uq.edu.au or 07 334 69492 for further details
For parking information: campuses.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/parking-transport/parking/parking-at-uq

All welcome