Bookends of empire, 1956/2026: Technological imagination and American hegemony

Higher Seminar in Media and Communication Studies with Jonas Andersson from Södertörn University

Welcome to the next higher seminar organised by the Media and Communication Studies department! In this higher seminar, Jonas Andersson will present on the topic: Bookends of empire, 1956/2026: Technological imagination and American hegemony.

As part of Jonas Andersson's ongoing work on Sweden’s historical relation to Silicon Valley, the contours of our current digital condition will be sketched by contrasting our current conjuncture with that of the early Cold War, anticommunism, media-technological revolutions, and the shifting of planetary imperial power. 1956 marked a pivotal year, both in terms of early media and communications scholarship, and in terms of de facto inventions such as the establishment of “artificial intelligence.”

Jonas Andersson is an Associate Professor in Media & Communication Studies at Södertörn University. His research interests include the interrelations between media digitization, everyday life, social structures, and epistemology.

It is possible to join the lecture on campus and online via Zoom. Contact us for the Zoom details if you'd like to join online.