Faculty: Elham Dehghanipour
Description: When someone mentions Iran, what comes to mind? What images appear?
Is Iran what the media depicts: the center of nuclear danger and insecurity in the Middle East? Maybe you think of American-made films that depict ancient violence and war, such as 300? Or perhaps you think of the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979 and American hostage situation, as seen in Argo? Maybe you picture women in Iran still battling for their rights, as shown in Not Without My Daughter?
Let’s develop a more nuanced image of modern Iranian history, culture and politics through watching Iranian films. Coming from Iranian society and in direct contact with people and their problems, Iranian filmmakers, such as Nargess Abyar, Abbas Kiarostami, Asghar Farhadi, Marzieh Meshkini, Darius Mehrjui and Mana Abari provide a detailed image of Iranian culture and politics.
In every session of this course, we will have a lively discussion, after an in-class film streaming. Focusing our discussions on the discourse of the female body in these films, we will learn about the involvement of Iranian women in the definition of Iranian culture, history and politics.
We will also learn a little about the Persian language, how to say and recognize common expressions, and the basics of how to write and read the Persian script.
Meeting Information: 01/03/2022-01/25/2022; M-F 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Hopkins Center Room 211
Section Requisites: N/A
Course Fee: $10
Out-of-Pocket Expenses: N/A