Área de Concentração e Linhas de Pesquisa

Area of Concentration

Area of Concentration: Communication and Media Culture

The area of concentration of UNIP's Graduate Program in Communication, called Communication and Media Culture, is structured around the investigation of contemporary communication processes and their effects on the symbolic, social and cultural organization of society. Understanding mediatization as a structuring phenomenon of globalized culture, the area seeks to critically analyze the production, circulation and consumption of symbolic goods mediated by interactive technologies, media discourses and cultural practices that continually reshape social imaginaries, identities and forms of sociability.

Its syllabus proposes “investigating the production, distribution and consumption of symbolic goods in the context of globalized culture, marked by intense mediatization and technological interactivity. Based on an understanding of contemporary communication processes, the aim is to analyse the cultural and social transformations promoted by the media, addressing their implications for the social imaginary, power relations and hegemony, consumption practices, forms of work, politics, cultural identities and social organization”.

In the current evaluation cycle, the area of concentration has been strengthened by strategic guidelines that have guided the planning of PPGCOM-UNIP based on four fundamental principles:

Production of research aimed at understanding sociocultural media processes and their implications for the construction of meanings and symbolic hegemonies;
Theoretical and methodological qualification of research, with an emphasis on innovation and social impact, contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
Increasing the visibility of the Program through qualified publications and inclusion in national and international collaborative networks;
Strengthening the training of researchers committed to ethics, diversity, inclusion and inclusion in the market and academia.

The articulation with UNIP's Institutional Mission and with the axes of the Postgraduate Institutional Development Plan (2018-2027) - generation of knowledge with social and economic benefits and promotion of the integration of the university with the community - guides the insertion of the area of concentration in the broader context of scientific production and in the public performance of the Program.

The alignment between the area of concentration, research projects and extension activities strengthens the cohesion of the academic proposal. This cohesion is expressed both in the production of scientific articles, dissertations and theses and in the development of social products and technologies aimed at media literacy, working in prison environments, contributing to socially vulnerable groups such as those subject to processes of religious intolerance, forms of artistic occupation of urban space, platform culture, among others, reaffirming the Program's commitment to the social relevance of research and to critical and citizen training.

Research Line

UNIP's Graduate Program in Communication is structured around two lines of research that reflect the epistemological orientation of the Communication and Media Culture concentration area. The lines are complementary and allow for the articulation of research aimed at analyzing communication products and understanding social, cultural and symbolic processes mediated by communication.

Both are connected to the Program's mission of training critical and socially committed researchers who are able to understand the complexity of communication phenomena, contribute to the advancement of knowledge and act strategically in academic and professional environments.

The research developed within the scope of the lines is organized in Research Groups led by professors from the Permanent Teaching Nucleus (NDP), with the participation of students, post-doctoral students, graduates and associated researchers. Valuing the articulation between themes and methods, the Program adopts a matrix perspective, which encourages the crossing of approaches and fosters interdisciplinary production and social impact.

Line 1 - Configuration of Products and Processes in the Media Culture

Syllabus:
It brings together research dedicated to the study of the historical dynamics, forms, languages and strategies that shape print, sound, audiovisual and digital products within the scope of media culture. It analyzes the modes of production, circulation and appropriation of symbolic goods from different theoretical-methodological perspectives, focusing on the contexts of mediation, reception and technological innovation.

Objectives:

To understand the processes of configuration and circulation of media content;
Analyze the technical, aesthetic and narrative devices that organize cultural and communicational products;
To investigate the constitution of formats, genres and platforms in the context of digital and transmedia culture;
Study the transformations of journalistic, advertising, cultural and institutional practices in the face of the logics of platformization and mediatization.

Recurring themes:
Studies on media narratives, audiovisual language, digital communication, journalism, platforms, communication formats and genres, cultural products and media analysis.

Line 2 – Media Contributions to the Interaction Between Social Groups

Syllabus:
It brings together research that analyzes communication processes as instances of the construction of meanings and symbolic disputes in the political, social and cultural spheres. It studies the constitution of identities, representations and social imaginaries mediated by communication, considering resistance practices, power flows and the effects of visibility or invisibility of social groups in contemporary media culture.