ANTH 287 - Images of Displacement in the Middle East

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

(Same as AFRS 287 and MEDS 287) Images of refugees in the Middle East fill our media feeds and demand our attention. But how have filmmakers from the region visualized displacement in slower, more quotidian forms? How do “everyday” images of displacement appear, and what kinds of political and ethical questions do they evoke? This intensive course is a collective experiment in visual inquiry that examines displacement in the Middle East from an ethnographic perspective. It introduces students to diverse examples of ethnographic and narrative film from North Africa and the Levant since the 1970s, including works by Merzak Allouache, Omar Amiralay, Mustafa Abu Ali, Soudade Kaadan, Leila Kilani, Mai Masri, and Tewfik Saleh, among others. Through screenings, readings, and discussions, students learn about the shifting conditions of Arab filmmakers’ production, the ethics of spectatorship, and visual politics. They also gain in-depth empirical knowledge of issues taken up in these films, from the afterlives of land reform in Syria to economic struggles in Palestinian refugee camps, to undocumented Maghrebi workers’ border crossings. Guided by these examples of politically-engaged cinema in the Middle East, our goal is to develop a more expansive visual framework for analyzing displacement as an everyday material condition and historical process. There are no prerequisites for this intensive, but majors in Africana studies, anthropology, media studies, film studies, and MDS are especially encouraged to enroll. China Sajadian.

First six-week course.

One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.

Course Format: INT