Faculty: Terry Hoops
Description: This course will examine films about and by Native Americans, First Nations and Pueblos Originarios (indigenous peoples) in North and South America. While a great deal of attention has been paid to how Hollywood and other commercial film producers have portrayed Native Americans throughout the history of film, this course will focus on the efforts of indigenous peoples to tell their own stories and to represent themselves and their experiences through contemporary filmmaking. Over the past 20 years a rich selection of films and documentaries have addressed the history and cultures of indigenous peoples within the world of cinema, films that have gone a long way in countering widely accepted stereotypes of indigenous groups. Many films are narrated in native languages, and are filmed on location. Some are directed and produced by indigenous filmmakers; others invited the participation of the communities the film is portraying. The themes, issues and stories they tell are incredibly varied. Our journey through this cinematic experience will include such films as Reel Injun, filmed by Waskaganish community member Neil Diamond, Smoke Signals, written by Sherman Alexie who is a member of the Coeur d’Alene reservation, NÎPAWISTAMÂSOWIN: We Will Stand Up, a Canadian work of activist cinema, and Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, a film made in collaboration with Inuit elders, and many others such films, many of them award winning. The record in Latin America is equally rich, with films like Ixcanul, a Guatemalan film using Kakchiquel, a Mayan language, El abrazo de la serpiente (Embrace of the Serpent) directed by Colombian Ciro Guerra, Tambien la Lluvia (Even the Rain), a film focusing on Quechua speakers in Bolivia which combines struggles for environmental justice with a critique of the Spanish conquest, and Dauna, Lo que lleva el rio (Gone with the River), a 2015 Venezuelan film. We will watch these and other films critically, and our watching accompanied by written commentary by film critics and anthropologists such as Manuel Medina and Bridget Franco. We will explore the filming techniques, the question of casting, the forms of dialogue, the script writing process, and the efforts to involve indigenous communities themselves in the production process, all as elements of decolonizing film. Class assignments will include writing a daily commentary on the issues the films bring out, discussions of relevant readings, and a final project.
Meeting Information: 01/03/2022 – 01/25/2022; M-F 9:00AM – 1:30PM; Class Location TBA
Section Requisites: N/A
Course Fee: $100
Out-of-Pocket Expenses: N/A