Questions of knowledge in Australian media education

Authors

Robyn Quin, Edith Cowan University

Document Type

Journal Article

Publisher

Sage Publications Inc

Faculty

Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences

School

School of Communications and Multimedia

RAS ID

2253

Comments

Edith, R. Q. (2003). Questions of knowledge in Australian media education. Television & New Media, 4(4), 439-460. Available here

Abstract

This article draws on the work of Foucault to construct a history of the invention and introduction of media studies in the Australian context through the analysis of two of its epistemological regimes: audience studies and media production. In so doing, it challenges contemporary assumptions about the subject's foundations, purposes, and achievements, most significant the belief that the story of media education is a story of seamless progress marked by the movement from a protectionist philosophy to one that approaches the media as a representational system. Questioning the normative, taken-for-granted history and conduct of a school subject does not necessarily mean that a subject will, or should, be changed. However, there exists at least the opportunity to bring about change when current practices can be located and understood in terms of historical contingency rather than the more common change and reform rhetoric of curriculum developers.

DOI

10.1177/1527476403256717