Latin American Cinema: Race, Nation and Representation (SMLM236)

Staff	Dr Katie Brown - Convenor
Credit Value	30
ECTS Value	15
NQF Level	7
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
Duration of Module	Term 1: 11 weeks;

Module aims

This module will consider how Latin American cinema today contributes to a questioning of the boundaries of the nation and the legacies of colonialism in Latin America. You will gain a sophisticated knowledge of a selection of contemporary films, and will be enabled to make connections between these texts, and the historical, cultural, linguistic and ideological contexts associated with them.

ILO: Module-specific skills

1. Demonstrate advanced understanding of debates around race, nation and colonialism in Latin American cinema.
2. Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse Latin American film texts using appropriate formal and critical terminologies.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

3. Demonstrate a sophisticated and intellectually mature ability to analyse cultural texts and to relate their concerns and their modes of expression to their cultural, linguistic and ideological contexts.
4. Engage critically with relevant theoretical discourses

ILO: Personal and key skills

5. Through essay-writing and other assignments, demonstrate advanced research and bibliographic skills, an advanced and intellectually mature capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument and to write clear and correct prose
6. Through the planning and organisation of research projects, demonstrate independence of thought and confidence in developing ideas and formulating questions

Syllabus plan

Part 1: An introduction to issues of nation, race, language, colonialism and ‘otherness’ in Latin American cinema and introduction to relevant theory

Part 2: Case studies of contemporary films from different Latin American countries that explore our key issues. These may vary from year to year. Check the ELE page for details.

Part 3: Students sharing their own research and examples, and presenting conclusions.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	278	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	22	Seminars
Guided Independent Study	136	Seminar preparation
Guided Independent Study	142	Reading, research and essay preparation

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Research report	25	2500 words	1-6	Mark and written comments
ESsay	75	5000 words	1-6	Mark and written comments

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Research report	Research report	1-6	Referral/deferral period
Essay	Essay	1-6	Referral/deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Select secondary reading

Appelbaum, Nancy P., Anne S. Macpherson, and Karin Alejandra Rosemblat (eds). Race and Nation in Modern Latin America. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003).
D'Lugo, Marvin, Ana M. López, and Laura Podalsky. The Routledge Companion to Latin American Cinema (New York, NY: Routledge, 2018)
King, John. Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America (London: Verso, 2000).
Wade, Peter, James Scorer and Ignacio Aguiló (eds). Cultures of Anti-Racism in Latin America and the Caribbean (London: University of London Press, 2019).

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Available as distance learning?

Origin date

29/04/2020

Last revision date

12/05/2020

Key words search

Latin America, film, race, nation, indigenous, decolonizing