Language, Culture and Globalization

This course is part of the BA Online Culture: Art, Media and Society or the MA Online Culture at Tilburg University. Click on the link for more info on the courses and the programme.

In this international program Online Culture: Art, Media and Society (Culture Studies) the focus is on digital culture and (new) media. From disciplines such as cultural studies and media studies you study how digitalization and globalization influence our way of living. You discuss new ways of communication, art expressions as well as (social) media expressions like memes and trolls. You research how such ways of communication and expressions are established and how they manifest in, and have influence on a society that increasingly takes place online. Additionally, you actively contribute to digital culture by writing papers and opinion pieces for our own online platform Diggit Magazine.

Friends: From progressive for its time to failing to age well

Paper
Daisy van Belzen
09/01/2023
13 minutes to read

Does a show from the 90s have a place in our current culture, or has it become too culturally outdated? This study aims to show how a contemporary audience deals with an older cultural expression.

The Beatles and Globalization in the Sixties

Paper
Mariska van Schijndel
15/04/2022
28 minutes to read

This paper discusses how The Beatles contributed greatly to changes in global youth culture worldwide in the 1960's. 

Crystals and Detox Juices: How Wellness Culture Keeps Us Sick

Article
Michelle Saris
01/03/2023
12 minutes to read

Burning sage, cleansing your energy with crystals, and meditation retreats; all are examples of the so-called movement of wellness culture which spread through social media. But is it actually making us healthier, or is it maybe keeping us sick?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortéz in her TAX THE RICH dress at the Met Gala 2021

TAX THE RICH: mainstreaming in political discourses online

Article
Ruben den Boer
24/12/2021
13 minutes to read

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s TAX THE RICH dress was a treat for political meme creators around the world. But the memes did more than just give us a chuckle. They made us talk about American politics, socialism, and anti-capitalism. How? 

A dangerous translation: A case study of the Japanese periphery

Article
Catalina Amengual Ripoll
17/11/2020
11 minutes to read

Even though international exchange has increased enormously over the past years, mistranslations are still not uncommon - but what if a mistranslation might actually lead to danger? Like being attacked by a wild bear in the middle of Japan?

Coffee places in Tilburg as linguistic landscapes

Article
Savina Karneva
07/12/2019
21 minutes to read

In this article, we analyze three different coffee places in Tilburg as linguistic landscapes in order to illustate hidden indexical meanings found in them, which point to their history, their present, and their future with customers.

Merch for the ok, boomer trend

Ok boomer and the 'generation war'

Article
Leonie Milder
04/12/2019
14 minutes to read

By now, everyone has heard of it. The term ‘ok boomer’ has gone viral. The term comes from 'Baby Boomer', a name for the generation born between 1946 and 1964. Now, it means something completely different as the 'generation war' rages on.