Costs of Resistance: History Through Film

Through films and documentaries about places with contentious histories and ongoing political conflicts, this course will examine the solidarities and fractures that resistance against colonial and foreign control brings about in struggling societies. We will particularly engage with themes around sovereignty and self-determination, nationality and belongingness, and history and memory. Such questions not only have real-world stakes for peoples' survival and political identities, but also shape in profound ways the imaginations and practices of resistance and solidarity across the globe. Course materials will revolve around struggles of Palestinians, Irish, Kurds, Kashmiris, Tamils, and Indigenous Americans, among others. The primary texts in this course will be films and documentaries that we will watch together as a class. Each week or module will revolve around a one film or documentary. Select readings will supplement themes of each film or documentary.