Deniz Neriman Duru

This edited volume, Excellent MSc Dissertations 2019, is the forth in the series that brings a selection of five postgraduate dissertations, written by the students who undertook the MSc degree in Media and Com- munication at Lund University, in Sweden and graduated in June 2019. All five texts published in this edited volume were originally presented and evaluated as part of the final thesis exams in May 2019, in which they were awarded top grades. During the autumn of 2019, they were revised and edited for publication in the publication series Förtjänstfulla examensarbeten i medie och kommunikationsvetenskap (FEA), which was launched in 2008 to bring attention to and reward student work of a particularly high quality. With this publication, we hope to inspire future students writing dis- sertations, and contribute to debates inside and outside of academia on media, communication and cultural studies. In particular, the work in this book asks us to critically reflect on media’s role in challenging patriarchy and gender inequalities, as well as people’s civic engagement and concern over democracy, political and environmental crises; and human’s relationships with media, technology and AI. All of the issues brought up in this book make us think, question and understand our- selves within the socio-cultural, and mediated environment we live in.

This book offers an empirically-based view on Europeans’ interconnections in everyday life. It looks at the ways in which EU residents have been getting closer across national frontiers: in their everyday experiences of foreign countries – work, travel, personal networks – but also their knowledge, consumption of foreign products, and attitudes towards foreign culture. The book considers how people reconcile their increasing cross-border interconnections and a politically separating Europe of nation states and national interests.