果冻影院

Module Content and Indicative Topics

In this module, we will examine the ways in which recent Latin American cinema engages with issues of race and ethnicity. After an initial introduction to key debates around race, ethnicity and around the more recent notions of multiculturalism and cultural diversity, we will devote each session to the analysis of representative thought-provoking films and the discussion of relevant theoretical texts from postcolonial/decolonial, race and film studies. We will discuss films from Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, focusing on the representation of ethnic/racial identities, agency, resistance, conflict and otherness. Specific topics to be addressed include socio-racial hierarchies; the legacy of colonialism; the interaction between gender and race; the notion of indigeneity; nationness and citizenship; land and environmental issues; decolonial aesthetics; film activism, among others. Throughout the module, we will assess the extent to which films are challenging dominant narratives of race and ethnicity and whether they are succeeding in offering de-colonial approaches.

The module will cover the following topics, which may be subject to variation:

• Introduction: Race and Ethnicity in Latin America and in Cinema

• Socio-racial conflict: Representations of Domestic Servants

• Ethnicity, Gender and Trauma

• Representing Otherness: (Contesting) Eurocentrism

• Ethnicity and the Transnational Audience

• Black narratives and national belonging

• Race, Colonialism and Film Aesthetics

• Ethnicity and Land Sovereignty in Film: Cinema Activism

• Indigenous Filmmaking in Latin America

Teaching Delivery

The module will be taught through two-hour weekly classes, which will involve watching and analysing clips and discussing relevant secondary literature. Delivery will include interactive lectures and seminars, open class and small group discussions.

By the end of the module, you should be able to demonstrate:

• an understanding of the main debates on race, ethnicity and cultural diversity in the Latin American context, and of the issues surrounding these concepts.

• a strong knowledge of how recent Latin American cinema engages with the region鈥檚 racial and ethnic diversity and conflict

• a knowledge of some of the main genres and trends in contemporary Latin American cinema

• an understanding of the role played by film in shaping/challenging dominant ideologies

• skills of intercultural awareness

• skills of film and visual analysis

• an ability to discuss cultural forms in a written and oral manner through presentations, in-class discussions, employing appropriate terminology and theoretical frameworks.

Recommended Reading

In preparation for the module, we advise reading one or more of the following texts. These can be found in the 果冻影院 Library:

• Dennison (Ed.), Contemporary Hispanic Cinema: Interrogating the Transnational in Spanish and Latin American Film (pp. 155-180). Boydell & Brewer, 2013.

• Gleghorn, C. 鈥業ndigenous Filmmaking in Latin America鈥�, In: M. Delgado, S. Hart, and R. Johnson, eds. 2017. A Companion to Latin American Cinema. Hoboken, NJ: John Wylie & Sons. pp.167-186

• Haskins V, Lowrie C. Colonization and Domestic Service: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, NY: Routledge, 2014.

• Hirsch, M. The Generation of Postmemory. Poetics Today (2008) 29 (1): 103-128.

• King, A M L贸pez, M Alvarado (eds), Mediating Two Worlds. Cinematic Encounters in the Americas, London: BFI Publishing, 1993.

• Mignolo, W. 鈥楧ecolonial Aesthetics/Aesthesis鈥� https://blackeuropebodypolitics.wordpress.com/decolonial/.

• Ng鈥檞eno, Bettina. 2004. 鈥淐an Ethnicity Replace Race? Afro-Colombians, Indigeneity and the Colombian Multicultural State鈥�. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 12, no. 2: 414鈥�40.鈥�

• Quijano, Anibal, 鈥楥oloniality of power, Eurocentrism and Latin America鈥�, Nepantla: Views from the South, 1(3), 2000, pp 533-580.

• Raheja, Michelle H, 鈥樷�淲ill making movies do the sheep any good?鈥� The afterlife of Native American images鈥�, in Recasting Commodity and Spectacle in the Indigenous Americas, Gilbert H, Gleghorn C (eds),

• Schiwy, Freya, Indianizing Film: Decolonization, the Andes, and the Question of Technology, New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 2009.

• Stoddard J, Marcus A and Hicks A. 鈥楾he Burden of Historical Representation: The Case of/for Indigenous Film鈥�. The History Teacher Vol. 48, No. 1 (November 2014), pp. 9-36

• Stam R. and Shoat E., Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. NY: Routledge, 1994 Stam, Robert. 1997. Tropical Multiculturalism: A Comparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema and Culture. Durham: Duke University Press

• Wade, Peter, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America. Second edition. London: Pluto, 2010.