SOCS 642
"Undesirable" Otherness: Cinematic Representations of Immigration in the European Union
Isolina Ballesteros
Course Description | |
The course examines cinematic representations of immigration, xenophobia, and racism towards ethnic and racial minorities in the social context of the European Union. It includes topics such as: social policies towards immigrants and refugees, criminalization of immigration, integration versus assimilation, the correlation between xenophobia/racism and political or economic nationalism. It focuses on the role of cinema as a cultural and ideological apparatus representing the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and class. It uses a selection of recent European films as well as sociological, cultural and theoretical texts. | |
Required Readings | |
Course packet with selected theoretical and sociological readings (PIP Printing, Main Street, Middletown) | |
Films | |
Brothers in Trouble (1996) by Udayvan Prasad Angst essen seele auf/Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) by Rainer M. Fassbinder Las cartas de Alou /Letters from Alou (1990) by Montxo Armendáriz Flores de otro mundo/Flowers from Another World (1999) by Icíar Bollaín Extranjeras/Female Foreigners (2003) by Helena Taberna Inch’Allah dimanche (2003) by Yamina Benguigui J'ai pas sommeil/I Can't Sleep (1994) by Claire Denis Lola und Bilidikid/Lola and Billy the Kid (1999) by Kutlug Ataman La Haine/Hatred (1996) by Mathieu Kassovitz La promesse/The promise (1996) by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne Dirty, Pretty Things (2002) by Steven Frears |
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Course Requirements | |
Some films will be screened in class. Digitized films will be watched by students individually via internet connection. Active preparation/participation in class discussions 30% |
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June 27 |
Introduction "Benign Racism" by Ackermann; "Making and Unmaking of Strangers" and “The Stranger Revisited…” by Zygmunt Bauman "Cinematic and Cultural Mediations" by Ella Shohat & Robert Stam |
June 28 |
Race/Masculinity/Class |
June 29 |
II. Africans against the Wall (the 70s) Texts: "Immigration and Integration in Germany since 1945" by Bade; "Racism and Politics in West Germany" by Castles "The Negro and Language" and "The Man of Color and the White Woman" by Frantz Fanon; "Fassbinder and Spectatorship" by Judith Mayne |
June 30 |
III. Crossing the Gibraltar Strait: Africans and Arabs/"Moors" in Spain Film: Las cartas de Alou /Letters from Alou (1990) by Montxo Armendáriz Texts: "Immigration to Spain: Implications for a Unified European Union Immigration Policy" by Laura Huntoon; "The Role of Spain as a Gateway..." by Gil Bazo; "Screening African Immigration to Spain..." by Ballesteros |
July 5 |
Gender/Sexuality and Immigration. Film: Flores de otro mundo/Flowers from Another World (1999) by Icíar Bollaín (in class) Texts: “Metaphors of Home" by Floya Anthias; "Birds of Passage Are Also Women” by M. Morokvasic; "Female 'Birds of Passage' a Decade Later: Gender and Immigration in the European Union" by E. Kofman; "Female Birds of Passage: Leaving and Settling in Spain" by Ribas-Mateos; "The Position and Status of Migrant Women in Spain" by A. Escrivá |
July 6 |
II. Documenting Female Immigration to Spain Film: Extranjeras/Female Foreigners (2003) by Helena Taberna (in class) Texts: “Gendered Actors in Migration” by Annie Phizacklea “Migrant Women in Spain: Class, Gender and Ethnicity” by Solé & Parella "Embracing the Other: The Feminization of Spanish 'Immigration Cinema'" by I. Ballesteros Mid Term Paper (4-6 pages) |
July 7 |
III. France’s immigrant Algerian Women Film: Inch’Allah Dimanche/God Bless Sunday (2003) by Yamina Benguigui Texts: “A Peaceful Popular Racism” and “The Old and the New” by Ben Jelloun; “Yamina Benguigui’s Inch’Allah Dimanche: Unveiling Hybrid Identities” by M. Fauvel |
July 8 |
IV. "Queer" Immigration: (Im)migrant Subjects in the Cinema of Claire Denis Film: J'ai pas sommeil/I Can't Sleep (1994) by Claire Denis (in class) Text: “J'ai pas sommeil” by Martine Beugnet |
July 11 |
V. "Queer" Immigration: the Turkish Diaspora in Berlin Film: Lola und Bilidikid/Lola and Billy the Kid (1999) by Kutlug Ataman Readings: “The Turkish Diaspora in Germany” by W. Chapin “Subversive Bodily Acts” by Judith Butler “Boys Will Be Girls: the Politics of Gay Drag” by C. Tyler; “The Gay Absence” by Leo Bersani “Cross-dressing Displacement/Assimilation: Gender Constructs and Performativity in J’ai pas de sommeil (1994) by Claire Denis and Lola und Bilidikid (1999)” by Kutlug Ataman” by I. Ballesteros |
July 12 |
Beur Cinema and Brotherhood in the Paris Outskirts Film: La Haine/Hatred (1995) by Mathieu Kassovitz Texts: “After the Riot” by Keith Reader and Review by Chris Barke “Social Exclusion and Artistic Inclusiveness: The Quest for Integrity…” “Daughters of France, Daughters of Allah” by Marie Brenner |
July 13 |
The European Family against Otherness: Emblem of the Nation Oedipal Narrative and the Transnational Son/Europe Film: La promesse/The Promise (1996) by Jean-Pierre y Luc Dardenne (in class) Text; “Belgium’s Immigration Policy” by M. Martiniello |
July 14 |
Europe’s Invisible Organs Film: Dirty, Pretty Things (2002) by Steven Frears (in class) Conclusions Final paper |