AFRS 218 - Images of Displacement in the Middle East

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

(Same as ANTH 218 and MEDS 218) 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 6-week 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 based in the region since the 1970s, from the social realism of Tewfik Saleh, Mustafa Abu Ali, and Omar Amiralay to the experimental work of Basma Alsharif and Jumana Manna. 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 the everyday life of Palestinian refugee camps. Guided by examples of politically-engaged cinema in the Middle East, our goal is to develop a more expansive visual framework for understanding displacement, unsettling the line between the spectacular and the ordinary, past and present, and here and elsewhere. There are no prerequisites for this intensive, but majors in Africana studies, anthropology, media studies, film studies, and migration and displacement studies are especially encouraged to enroll. China Sajadian.

First six-week course.

One 2-hour period plus outside screenings.

Course Format: INT