Labour and Sustainability in the Media Industries

FaculteitFaculty of Humanities

NiveauBachelor

Studiejaar2026-2027

Beschrijving

Course goals

The objectives of this course are...

... to develop a critical understanding of how media industries operate and reproduce structures of inequality;

... to introduce students to the field of critical media industry studies, providing them with a theoretical understanding of creative production and media labour;

... to train students to apply academic knowledge and insights within non-academic formats while maintaining a strong foundation in critical analysis.

After taking this course, students will be able to…

... understand key theories within critical media industry studies;

... use this framework to critically reflect on contemporary media labour;

... perform close readings of scholarly texts, demonstrating the ability to summarize, contrast, and evaluate core arguments;

... apply research insights to media industry case studies;

... reflect on choices made in the process of translating research into non-academic formats;

... demonstrate practical competence in collaborative audio production.

Content

This course explores the (un)sustainability of labour in the media industries, focusing on how media production is shaped by systems of inequality and exploitation. Students critically examine the interconnections between sustainability, equity, and justice, extending beyond environmental concerns to include gender, race, class, and the global North–South divide.

Through an introduction to the field of critical media industry studies, grounded in cultural studies approaches that students learned about in year 1, the course develops a foundational understanding of how national and global media industries operate and reproduce power relations. Case studies across film, television, streaming video, and performing arts production, as well as insights into cultural institutions such as festivals serve to illustrate key concepts and create a theoretical understanding of media ethnography and related research methods.

As part of the course, guest speakers from Dutch and international media sectors provide real-world perspectives on creative labour, precarity, and efforts toward more equitable and sustainable production models. Students are encouraged to think critically about current industry practices, engage with ongoing debates about labour in the media industries, and imagine alternative, fairer ways of organizing cultural production.

Drawing on the perspectives offered by the industry practitioners and the course’s theoretical framework, students will translate their insights into practice by working in small groups to produce a research-driven podcast episode on a specific topic related to labour and sustainability in the media industries. This project develops research, collaborative, and technical production skills, including identifying and analysing a relevant labour issue, choosing and scripting the podcast’s format, reflecting on conceptual and editorial choices, reaching out to industry experts, conducting interviews, as well as sound recording and editing.

This course is the second course in the specialisation track Participatory Cultures, Media production and Sustainable Futures.

Additional information

Priority rules
This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you
- are a student in the BA Media and Culture and this course is part of your specialisation (verdiepingspakket)
- are a student in the BA Liberal Arts and Sciences or Taal- en Cultuurstudies and this course is part of your specialisation (kernpakket)

In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.

A Maximum of 8 exchange students will be admitted to this course.

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