Academic Teaching

The ZPKM's courses offer a cultural and media-scientific perspective on the subject area "Popular Culture and Music". Music is understood as an aesthetic, cultural, media and social practice. Teachers of the center are Dr. Dr. Michael Fischer, Dr. Knut Holtsträter and PD Dr. Christofer Jost.

A curriculum cooperation exists with the Medienkulturwissenschaft (BA/MA) and Kulturanthropologie und Europäische Ethnologie (BA/MA) at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg.

Irrespective of this, the courses are open to students from all fields of cultural studies; Interested parties are asked to first contact their respective Degree Program Coordinator / Degree Guidance Officer to check the recognition of their course and entrance/score requirements respectively.

You can find a list of current and past ZPKM courses in the subfolder.

Structure and contents of the courses offered at ZPKM

every summer semester courses focus on:

• Media history of music
  (history of popular music and its media)
• Theory and aesthetics of popular music
  (pop discourses, concepts, genre and style research)

each winter semester, courses focus on:

• Media analysis of popular music
  (music, product and performance analysis)
• Societal, political and economic aspects of popular music
  (music industry, reception and the use of music media, celebrity phenomena, fan culture and images)

Courses can be attended independently and in any order.

Requirements

Depending on the study program and the module regulations (MA / BA), the courses can be completed as study or examination achievements:

• Study achievement 3 to 4 ECTS credits: Attendance at the seminar as well as preparation and follow-up, as well as a presentation, essay or equivalent.
• Study achievement 6 to 8 ECTS credits: Along with to the coursework described with additional scientific home work.

Special notes for students of media culture

Students of the BA Media Culture Studies have the opportunity to attend all four courses as elective courses within the main subject during their studies.

The courses can be taken in the following modules:

• Media History of Music = Seminar on Media History in M2 or LV on aspects of Diachronic Media Culture in M 4
• Media Analysis of Popular Music = Seminar on Selected Aspects of Media Analysis in M3
• Theory and Aesthetics of Popular Music = Course on in-depth aspects of systematic media culture studies in M4
• Social, Political and Economic Aspects of Popular Music = Advanced Seminar on In-depth Aspects of Diachronic Media Culture

In addition, all four courses are offered in the module "Courses on course-relevant cultural studies topics" as well as in the supplementary program.

Please refer to the respective announcement in the course catalogue for details on the respective SL and PL as well as for the possibility of crediting each course in the various modules and courses.