Anthropocene and Existence in Iberian Cinema & Critical Theory

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course offers an introduction to some of the recent thinking and cultural phenomena on the Anthropocene. In order to do that, we will pay particular attention to contemporary Iberian Cinema, Cultural Critique, and Critical Theory. Although we will focus on contemporary Spain in particular, we will ultimately attempt to come to terms with our current geological and civilizational epoch as mainly humanly driven. For that purpose, under examination and question will be primitive accumulation and Capitalism, humanism and posthumanism, rural depopulation, consumerism, energy use, industrial relocation, technicity (social networks, smartphones, big data, Google, etc.); droughts, wildfires, human and planetary finitude, etc. We will ultimately seek to bear witness to the Anthropocene and its consequences through cinema, culture and thought, if such a thing is possible. Taught in English and Spanish