King's College London

This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of contemporary cultural policy – what it is, what motivates it, how it is made, what consequences it produces, and most importantly why it matters for students as future artists, creatives, and citizens. While helping students learn about state policies in the broader cultural sector, the course actively uses international and comparative materials to help them to develop global problem-solving skills. The focus of the course is on key aims and values of cultural policy, such as national identity, nurturing creation, public value, public accessibility, and cultural diversity.

European film industries have consistently produced popular films and yet the most common perception of European cinema is one of arthouse production. This course redresses this misperception. Putting the terms "popular" and "European" together illuminates them both. "Popular" means different things in different countries: it may refer to box office success, or local traditions, or particular class or niche tastes. Sometimes what is "popular" is said to express the character of a nation, while at other times it is seen as a corruption of such a national identity. This course address many facets of what we refer to today as "Popular European Cinema." The course's methodologies reflect the rubric's multifariousness. It may be taught through a comparative approach, looking at one genre, such as melodrama or comedy, across several countries, or considering the effect of different institutional and funding contexts. It may also take a trans-national approach, looking at co-productions or stars who worked and were popular in a number of European countries. 

"Marxism" has played an enormous role in the shape of 20th-century history. But what did Marx really believe, and how can his "critique of political economy" help us to understand the historical development of capitalism, and its modern dynamics? What are the main challenges Marxian political economy faces? In this course, students examine Marx's materialist theory of human history, his critique of capitalism, and the extent to which his conceptual tools offer us a useful framework for understanding global socioeconomic change and continuity today, compared to other social scientific methods.

The course introduces the characteristics and properties of signals and systems and provide fundamental tools for their analysis and representation.