Course Catalog

Home>Academic Catalog 2025-2026>

MATERIAL CULTURE & VALUES (CM5033)

This course will first define essential aspects of the material and analyse different theoretical approaches to the study of material culture. We will then investigate how ‘stuff’of material culture (landscapes, objects, clothing, paraphernalia of the everyday environment) mediates contemporary identity in the context of a globalised culture and examine how the interplay between design, form, and function is represented by media as embodying cultural value. We will reflect on the nature of consumption, consider the politics of value of commodities, and explore how media are transformed into signs of global material culture.

ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY BRAND MANAGEMENT (CM5049)

CM/BA 5049 examines branding decisions and tactics used in strategic decision making.Although mainly qualitative it includes financial analysis of brands, which requires intermediate financial literacy.It examines how branding decisions and tactics are used in strategic decision-making based on case studies and symbolic analysis.It is complemented by a series of guest lectures by leading branding executives explaining real-life cases.

DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATIONS (CM5053)

This course provides an introduction to ‘Development Communications’ and to the communication practices that promote development, material change and social justice. The course explores the historical development of the field and the fundamental theories and figures and disciplines- from international development to mass communications-that have defined it as a distinct area of communications study and practice. Through numerous case studies, students explore intercultural and interpersonal communication on local, regional, national and global levels and examine numerous examples of development communications campaigns and civic media focusing on issues of public health, education, women’s empowerment, fair trade, and environmental, economic and cultural sustainability.

BEYOND THE FRAME: ENVIRON PHOTOG & VIS STORYTELLING (CM5059)

This course explores photography as a powerful tool for environmental storytelling. Students will develop technical and narrative skills to capture climate change impacts, conservation efforts, and human-environment interactions. Through assignments, critiques, and case studies, students will create a compelling portfolio that visually illustrates urgent environmental challenges and inspires awareness through strong, story-driven imagery.

VISUAL CULTURE, THEORY & COMMUNICATION (CM5060)

This course explores the power of visual forms of media and communication in forming and transforming our world and society. Through a transcultural survey of materials, contexts and theories, students will learn to study the visual as a place where meanings are created and contested, and understand how culture, ideology, and social norms and values can be conveyed through images. We will engage film, photography, museum exhibitions, advertisement, news reports, and consider the transformation of these media in a globalized digital environment. The rising power of digital vernacular images – images made by ordinary people in ordinary situations – is one of the subjects to be considered. We will address the impact of social media on the redefinition of community and identity, and on the transformation of politics and branding. Ultimately, students will deploy “tactics for studying the functions of a world addressed through pictures, images, and visualizations”. They will learn how visual theories extend across cultures, how visual practices shape the physical and cultural conditions of vision, and how visual media impacts our identity and environment in fundamental ways.

DIGITAL MEDIA WRITING PRACTICUM (CM5062)

This course will create a “newsroom” setting encouraging critical thinking about the media. The course will examine how the Internet has revolutionized journalism, story telling, and the media industries more generally. Students will study, analyze and discuss these trends as well as write about particular issues – thus developing their own voices and “brands” as writers and media professionals. Students will maintain blogs and their work will be published and curated on the student media website where they will appear as blogger/columnists. Another component of the course will emphasize career development: each student will produce a professional-grade online profile and portfolio through blogs and social networks

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRACTICUM (CM5063)

How does communication work as local government bodies, civil-society actors and NGOs put together sustainable development initiatives? How can communication be made to work better? Cutting across disciplines, this practicum allows students to see individuals, groups and communities in collaboration (and sometimes conflict) in a South Asian context marked by the 2004 tsunami. Based in the international eco-community of Auroville (Tamil Nadu, south-east India), students will explore substantive areas including micro-credit, health care with special reference to HIV/Aids, socially responsible business and environmental management. On-site visits and team-work are central to the course, leading to the production of multi-media reports on the interface between communication, development and sustainability. This course has an extra course fee (2000-2500euros)

BRANDING PRACTICUM (CM5066)

Brands, their creation, their identity and their management derive from a set of disciplines and principles that have been developed over the past 60 years. These disciplines are the architectural underpinnings for successful branding and they apply equally across categories of products and services and geographically across countries. The Branding Practicum will instruct students in these disciplines and principles and ask students to apply them to the creation of a new international brand in a category of their choice. Students will analyze a chosen category, create a new brand proposition for it, develop the branding identity for the new brand including name, logo, selling proposition and more. They will also create a global marketing strategy for the brand.

ADVERTISING PRACTICUM (CM5067)

The development of effective advertising is an intellectual and creative process that has evolved over the past century and includes the disciplines of research, targeting, strategy, strategy derived creative execution and evaluation. Today, the form and content of advertising is changing as the digital age opens new channels and types of messages. The Advertising Practicum will instruct students in the real world creation of effective advertising. Students will learn “the creation process” from start to finish, develop strategies and create advertising campaigns. Finally, they will compete to win an international brand’s advertising account by solving a strategic and creative challenge facing that brand just as it is done in the advertiser/ advertising agency industry worldwide. At the course’s end, students should have completed an advertising exercise that they can present to future employers as an aid to securing a job of their choice.

NGO PRACTICUM (CM5068)

The NGO practicum is a course that prepares students to engage with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the field. It will introduce students to several important tools necessary to be reflective and responsible agents of social change. The course includes a series of preparatory sessions, which may include lectures, workshops, visits, and individual research assignments, followed by a period of overseas fieldwork in which students will collaborate with local NGOs to help create various project management tools or media projects.