Latin American History and Film: Memory, Narrative and Nation

This course is centered around the relationship between history and storytelling. It takes as a starting point that history is itself political, and asks that we always consider both how and why we tell stories about the past. Together, we will critically examine a broad range of films and texts that engage with the Latin American past, and explore what they have to say about how gender and sexuality, imperialism, slavery, the church, revolution and repression shaped the region. How do films represent the past, and how do we approach “historical film”? How have narrative and documentary films been used as in various social and political struggles? Each week, we will examine documentary, narrative, or experimental films in relation to other modes of historical storytelling, from academic historiography to graphic novels, first person testimonios, memoirs, oral histories, and journalism.