Posted: March 29th, 2016

Broadcasting and imagined communities

Conduct original, historical research on any topic related to the history of media and communication before 1980. Given the short page limit of this paper, your topic should be narrowly focused and specific in terms of time and place. Your final paper should have a clear thesis, tied to at least one of the theories or arguments presented in the course (e.g. affordances, ideology, appropriation; Pinch/Oudshoorn on domestication or interpretive flexibility or genderscripts; MacKenzie and Wajcman on path-dependence or technological determinism; Martin on gender and the significance of early users to the medium of the telephone). In addition to course readings, your bibliography should include at least 5 “primary” and 5 “secondary” sources (i.e. books or scholarly articles). These research and analysis skills are critical for thriving in college and beyond. Your writing should be polished: edited and revised. The paper should be written and referenced according to The Chicago Manual of Style “notes and bibliography” format: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html Please double space and use a standard 12-point font such as Times or Cambria.

My idea so far:
focus on the 1936 Olympics since it is the first broadcasting events in sports history. Relating the event to the idea of Imagines communities and technological determinism. How broadcasting changed the society at the time. Also since Hitler is the main figure who presented the 1936 Olympics, a sense of nationalism could be considered in the imagined community point.