LFU:online

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be familiar with key concepts of Postcolonial Studies and documentary film theory. They will understand the significance of colonial visual regimes and be acquainted with various tendencies within ethnographic film. They will be familiar with fundamental questions in film studies and methodological approaches to documentary film analysis. They will be able to apply the acquired knowledge in case analyses. Through these, students will develop an understanding of the interrelation between societal discourses and media representations.

This course centers on a critical engagement with questions of representation, power, authority, and the subversion of hegemonic visual regimes. Following an introductory overview of documentary film theory and history, particular attention is given to the role of film—specifically ethnographic film—in the construction and reproduction of colonial logics, as well as to the potential of 'shooting back' (Prins, 2008), that is, the development of (cinematic) counter-narratives to hegemonic discourses. Using key tools from Postcolonial Studies, we analyze aesthetic, narrative, and discursive-rhetorical aspects of various documentary films, focusing in particular on the role and positioning of the represented and/or described “Others”: Who speaks? Who speaks for whom? In what ways does representation reproduce structural inequality? And: What (new) tendencies and traditions exist to resist hegemonic discourses and to create new modes of seeing? 

Introductory inputs; preparatory reading and active participation in discussions; film analyses and interpretations presented orally; written final reflection.

Active participation in discussions in the course, minor written assignments on preparatory reading, conducting and presentation of a film analysis, written film journal based on the required reading and viewing of the films/presentations.

All coursework must be completed. Successful completion of the course requires at least a satisfactory completion of all coursework.

In order to ensure good academic practice, an oral examination relevant for the final grade may be conducted on the submitted written work.

Will be announced at the beginning of the course.