Framing Gender In Middle Eastern Cinema - Syllabus

Professor: Levi Thompson (levi_thompson@brown.edu); tel. (401) 863-3369 Classroom: J. Walter Wilson 202 Class Schedule: Thursdays 4-6:30 PM Weekly Film Screenings: alternating Mondays and Tuesdays in J. Walter Wilson 502, 7-10:00PM Office location and hours: Pembroke Hall 108; 1-3:30 Thursdays. If you are unable to meet with me during scheduled office hours, please e-mail me to set up an alternative time. Twitter: @FramingGender // #GenderMECin Instagram: framinggender Course Description*: This course examines how gender is framed in Middle Eastern cinema. Through weekly readings in film theory and culture, in-class discussion, and written and oral assignments, students will learn not only how to analyze cinema but also about gender in the modern and contemporary Middle East more generally. Most weeks students will also attend the screening of a film dealing in some way with gender in the Middle East. We will watch films from or about: Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, and Canada. Over the course of the semester, students will learn how to critically approach cinema by completing a series of projects, including a film review, a short critical analysis of a single film, an oral presentation based on that analysis, and a final project. The final project may be submitted in a variety of forms, including but not limited to: a 10-minute film that addresses themes from the course, an interactive website, a short play, a lengthy piece of creative writing, or a more traditional 15 to 20-page research paper. Students must submit a final project proposal one month prior to the final class session, and rubrics for evaluating different project types will be distributed the week following the submission of the proposal. Students may change their proposal after receiving the rubric, but only in consultation with the professor and no later than two weeks after the initial proposal. Students will engage with their colleagues and the broader digital public through discussion board posts and Twitter. By the end of the course, students will be able to: Name and describe key terms for cinematic analysis and understand some of the political, religious, and wider cultural context within which ME cinema is now produced. Recognize different genres of ME cinema and describe them. Understand how gender has been cinematically represented in ME film during the 20th and early 21st centuries. Apply their readings in critical theory about gender (specifically “the cinematic gaze”) and postcolonialism while participating in discussions about cinema in the Middle East online and in class. Write short, critical analysis of films that deals with narrative, character development, and cinematic aesthetics. Interpret tropes particular to ME cinema and relate them to Western cinema. Reflect on and respond to their colleagues’ interpretations of ME cinema. Create a comprehensive creative or critical project or research paper synthesizing all of the above skills in order to demonstrate their knowledge of gender’s role in ME cinema, their long-term reflection on that role, and their analytical and evaluative take on current discussions of gender and cinema in the ME, including contemporary film theory and analysis. Reasonable Expectation of Time Spent on Coursework: Over 14 weeks, students will spend 2.5 hours per week in class (35 hours total). Additionally, students will either 1) attend a weekly film screening or 2) watch the weekly film on their own. Film viewing will take, on average, 2 hours/week for 12 weeks, or 24 hours total. Required reading for the seminar meetings is expected to take up approximately 4-5 hours per week (56-70 hours). In addition, writing discussion board posts and papers, re-watching scenes while writing, watching new films for papers and projects, editing writing, engaging with the materials online, and completing a final project is estimated to take 50-65 hours over the course of the term. Your total working hours for the course should equal a minimum of 180 hours. Actual times will vary for each student; final grades are not determined by the amount of time a student spends on the course. Required Texts: Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film (any edition; page #s below match the 8th edition) – available at the Brown Bookstore Lina Khatib, Filming the modern Middle East: politics in the cinemas of Hollywood and the Arab world (New York: I.B. Tauris/Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). Available: http://site.ebrary.com.revproxy.brown.edu/lib/brown/reader.action?docID=10170614 and at the Brown Bookstore Course Reader – available at Allegra Printing (102 Waterman St.) Grading Scale: Attendance and active, thoughtful participation: 20% Discussion board posts/weekly tweets: 5% Average of 2 diagnostic essay grades: 10% Film Review: 10% Critical Essay: 15% Oral presentation of critical essay: 10% Final project proposal: 5% Final Project: 25% Evaluation: Attendance: Because this is a seminar course, you are allowed only one no-questions-asked excused absence. If you have other obligations this semester that will require you to miss more than one class meeting, please inform me as soon as possible. Any absences following the first will be taken into account when assessing participation grades. You are expected to arrive to class on time if not before. Extenuating circumstances will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. You are highly encouraged to join the rest of the class for the weekly film screening. Please speak with me if you will not be able to attend the film screenings. Participation: You are expected to actively participate in our weekly discussions in class and online. Guidelines for online discussion activities will be provided at various points over the course of the semester. In order to be prepared to discuss the films and texts in class you should: Print out and annotate all readings, or take notes on them in your reader. Simply reading the weekly assignment is not sufficient. You must take time to reflect on what you read and prepare the text for class discussions. This means you will need a good highlighter, a pen or pencil, and a distraction-free work environment to read in! Actively take notes on the weekly film while you are watching. Spend a few minutes after watching to come up with some questions or comments about the film and write them down. When you are presenting a film or preparing for class discussion, make sure to note the times of scenes you are interested in talking about. You must actively contribute to class discussion, whether during small group work or when we are discussing material as a class. To do so, you will be expected to give your own thoughts and analysis when cold-called, or offer your ideas on your own. I encourage everyone to participate in our discussions, ask questions, and contribute their own thoughts. You will write a weekly discussion board post (100-200 words due by midnight the night before class) as a foundation for class discussion. Sign up for Twitter (you may use a personal account or create a new one for class) and write at least 5 tweets a week using the hashtag #GenderMECin about the weekly films and/or theoretical readings—you can certainly tweet more if you want! You are encouraged to engage with your classmates and the professor online (@FramingGender). We will also use the Canvas discussion board to jump start our class discussions along with Instagram. More details about online engagement will be announced in class. If you are uncomfortable having a public account on Twitter, you may create a new account, set it to private, and allow the course account (@FramingGender) to follow you. Participation grades will be assessed weekly, and you will be able to track your progress through Canvas, where I will also give you comments about participation. A Note on Formatting for Written Assignments: All assignments should be written in Times New Roman, 12 pt font, with 1 inch margins. When submitting via e-mail, send both a .doc and a .pdf file, ensuring that the formatting is correct in your .pdf. Diagnostic Essays: This is an upper-level seminar, and I expect you to be able to express yourself clearly in writing already. Your essays will be evaluated both for the clarity of your argument and style, as well as on the basis of your engagement with the course materials. Detailed rubrics will be handed out before each assignment is due. Each diagnostic essay should be 3-4 pages long. Film Review: Each student will select a ME film to review in consultation with the professor. We will read some example reviews at home and evaluate them in class prior to when you write your own review. Again, a detailed rubric of expectations will be provided. Your film review should be 3-4 pages long. Critical Essay: Each student will select a different ME film to write a critical essay about. This essay provides you an opportunity to apply the theoretical readings from the course in your critical reading of a film. Your critical essay should be 6-7 pages long. Oral Presentation: Each student will develop their critical essay into a seven-minute presentation for class. You are encouraged to prepare a digital presentation or handout to go along with your presentation. Your classmates will also have the opportunity to ask you questions about your work for two to three minutes after your presentation. Final Project Proposal: You are free to be creative with your final projects for the course, but you must provide a 1-2 page outline of your plans so that I can tell you my expectations for your particular type of project. You are encouraged to think beyond the traditional term paper, though you also have that option. You may collaborate with a classmate/classmates, but this is not a requirement. Each student in a group will also be evaluated individually on the basis of the explanatory papers to be turned in with any final project that is not a traditional research paper. Research papers are to be done individually, should you choose that option. Final Project: Final projects are due during our last meeting in the reading period (Dec. 11th). Students who have made a film, written a play, created a digital artwork, or done any other project that can be presented will have the opportunity to share their work with the class. Each student is responsible for writing a 5-6 page explanatory piece to go along with their project. Students writing research papers should write between 15-20 pages and will not write explanatory pieces. All explanatory pieces and research papers are due, at the absolute latest, at 2:00 PM, Dec. 16th. You may turn them in earlier as well. Some Notes on the Course: Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: Any student with a documented disability is welcome to contact me by e-mail or in my office hours as early as possible at the beginning of the semester so that we can arrange to accommodate you. As part of this process, please be in touch with Student and Employee Accessibility Services by calling 401-863-9588 or online at http://brown.edu/Student_Services/Office_of_Student_Life/seas/index.html. Announcement about Course Content: We will discuss a number of difficult topics during this course as we will be dealing with a part of the world that was long subject to the violence of colonialism and the continuing ruptures of the neo-colonial and neo-liberal world order. Our topics will include, on a weekly basis, gender, race, sexual and other violence, war, terrorism, psychological disorders, and other possibly disturbing issues. Although some or all of these topics may be difficult to discuss, we will engage with them in a respectful and tolerant manner. Essentializing, racist, or hateful language will not be tolerated. Academic Integrity: Students are reminded that all work submitted for this course must be produced independently and encouraged to (re-)familiarize themselves with Brown’s Academic Code (http://www.brown.edu/academics/pre-college/policies.php#academic). Also see http://library.brown.edu/libweb/plagiarism.php. Plagiarism is a serious breach of academic conduct and will automatically result in a failing grade for the assignment in question. Any infractions will be documented and referred to the Dean of Students. If you have any questions about what may or may not constitute plagiarism, please ask me so that we can ensure your work is done fairly and equitably. Technology in Class: Do not use your phone in class unless asked to do so (we may use our phones during some exercises). You may use a laptop to take notes if you must, but you are strongly encouraged to be present with us during our discussions. Studies have shown that handwritten notes are better when you want to remember the material you are working on. You should take notes by hand on our weekly readings, noting passages that stand out to you, where you still have questions, and flashes of insight you have while reading. A digital version of the weekly readings simply will not do—print them out or use the Course Reader. Citation: Please use the MLA format in your writing for this course. Some resources: Purdue Online Writing Lab - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ Brown Library Citations Guide - http://libguides.brown.edu/citations The MLA Handbook (latest edition and many others) is available at ROCK. Late Assignments: Any assignment not turned in on time will lose a letter grade every 24 hours it is late (an A paper would be a B paper as long as it is turned in within 24 hours following the due date; an A paper would be a C paper if it is turned in within 48 hours following the due date; etc.). This is non-negotiable. Do not ask for extensions on assignments as they will only be given in cases of extreme emergency. If you need more time, plan on a lower grade for the assignment. A Note About Grades: Grades are earned not given. If you are unhappy with the grade you have earned on an assignment, please schedule a time to speak with me so we can discuss how you can improve on later assignments. Thorough rubrics will be provided for each assignment so that you can see areas in your work that need improvement. Below, you will find our weekly schedule for the seminar. Weekly readings are listed the week prior to when they will be discussed in class. For example, the readings listed under Week 1 will form the basis of our class discussions during Week 2. Likewise, the films screened each week (other than those we watch during class time) will be discussed in the class session following their screening. The semester is divided into four thematic sections: Framing Gender in ME Cinema; Cosmopolitanism/Levantinism; Documentary; and Gender, War, and Occupation. I. Framing Gender in Middle Eastern Cinema Week 1 (Sept. 7): Introduction – Framing Gender in Middle Eastern Cinema Introductions: Why this class? What do you expect to learn? Film (shown in class): The Day I Became a Woman (2000), Marzieh Meshkini, dir. Group analysis of scenes and stills from the film. Readings for Week 2: THE SYLLABUS! (Also check out the course’s Canvas site!) Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” [1975] in Film: Psychology, Society, and Ideology, pp. 833-844. (Course Reader) Gil Hochberg, “National allegories and the emergence of the female voice in Moufida Tlatli’s Les silences du palais,” Third Text 50 (Spring, 2000). (Course Reader) Corrigan, A Short Guide, “Writing about the Movies,” 1-17. 2 Film Reviews (read and compare – we will work more with them in class): http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3024/films-for-the-classroom_silences-of-the-palace (Course Reader) http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9900EEDB1F3AF933A0575AC0A962958260 (Course Reader) Recommended supplementary reading: (we will not always discuss these readings in class, but you might want to complete them if you need more context for class discussions or for your own research for course projects) Fredric Jameson, “Third-World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism,” Social Text, no. 15 (Autumn, 1986), 65-88. (Canvas) FILM SCREENING: The Silences of the Palace, dir. Moufida Tlatli (1996) - Sept. 12 (Tuesday) Write a discussion board post about the film. Week 2 (Sept. 14): “The Cinematic Gaze” and Gender in ME Cinema Detailed discussion of syllabus in groups and as a class. Film discussion: The Silences of the Palace, dir. Moufida Tlatli (1996) Thinking about “The Cinematic Gaze” How do we watch cinema (what techniques do we use/look for)? How do we write about it? 1st Diagnostic Essay analyzing the function of the “gaze” in any visual artwork (may be Middle Eastern or not) due by e-mail on Friday at 5PM, Week 3 (end of next week). Readings for Week 3: Michael Allen, “Queer Couplings: Formations of Religion and Sexuality in ʿAlaʾ al-Aswani’s ʿImarat Yaʿqubyan,” IJMES 45 (2013): 253-269. (Course Reader) Edward Said, Orientalism (1978) – Introduction and Chapter 1 (selections) (Course Reader) Corrigan, A Short Guide, “Preparing to Watch and Preparing to Write,” 18-35. 3 film reviews (read, listen, and compare): https://www.wbez.org/shows/worldview/milos-stehlik-reviews-the-egyptian-film-the-yacoubian-building/5d51cc07-b7cd-48f1-9eda-f8b9bb75c954 https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/sep/14/worldcinema.drama http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4508427 Recommended supplementary reading: Ian F. Svenonius, “Heathers Revisited,” Censorship Now!! (New York: Akashic Books, 2015), 137-147. FILM SCREENING: The Yacoubian Building, dir. Marwan Hamed (2006) – Sept. 18 (Monday) Write a discussion board post about the film. Week 3 (Sept. 21): Queer Politics in ME Cinema Film discussion: The Yacoubian Building Mini-film review exercise (in class) Discussion of Orientalism Synthesis of our discussions on gender in ME cinema 1st Diagnostic Essay due Friday by 5PM! Readings for Week 4: Gil Hochberg, “‘Permanent Immigration’: Jacqueline Kahanoff, Ronit Matalon, and the Impetus of Levantinism,” boundary 2 31, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 219-243. (Course Reader) Ella Shohat, “Post-Third-Worldist Culture: Gender, Nation, and the Cinema,” Transnational Cinema: The Film Reader, eds. Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden, 39-56. (Course Reader) Khatib, Filming the modern Middle East, Introduction, 1-13. Corrigan, A Short Guide, “Film Terms and Topics,” 36-82. Recommended supplementary reading: Jacques Rancière, “The Politics of Literature,” SubStance 33, no. 1, issue 133 (2004), 10-24. (Canvas) FILM SCREENING: Alexandria…Why? dir. Youssef Chahine (1979) – Sept. 26 (Tuesday) Write a discussion board post about the film. II. Cosmopolitanism In Middle Eastern Cinema Week 4 (Sept. 28): Levantinism in Youssef Chahine’s Alexandria…Why? Brief discussion of first diagnostic essays. What is Levantinism? Gender in Alexandria…Why? 2nd Diagnostic Essay analyzing the role of gender in any/all of the films screened in class so far and incorporating at least two of our readings due by e-mail next week by Friday at 5PM. Readings for Week 5: Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden, “What is Transnational Cinema?” and Andrew Higson, “The Limiting Imagination of National Cinema,” Transnational Cinema: The Film Reader, eds. Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden, 1-25. (Course Reader) Leela Gandhi, Postcolonial Theory: a critical introduction, “One world: the vision of postnationalism” and “Postcolonial Literatures,” 122-166. (Course Reader) 2 film reviews (read and compare): https://electronicintifada.net/content/salata-baladi-or-afrangi/7404 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/09/by-shooting-her.html Recommended supplementary reading: Paul Jay, Global Matters: The Transnational Turn in Literary Studies (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010), 1-32. (Canvas) FILM SCREENING: Salata Baladi dir. Nadia Kamel (2007) – Oct. 2 (Monday) Write a discussion board post about the film. Week 5 (Oct. 5): Documenting Cosmopolitanism in the Middle East ***There will be a showing of the Iranian film Taxi (dir. Jafar Panahi) at the Joukowsky Forum on Oct. 3rd, 7:00-9:00PM, which students in the course may want to attend. Our weekly film will be shown on Monday, Oct. 2nd, to allow you the opportunity to see the second film on Tuesday.*** Discussion of Salata Baladi and the idea of national belonging in the Middle East Analysis of film reviews and discussion of readings. 2nd Diagnostic Essay due by Friday at 5PM! Students must select a Middle Eastern film to review (in consultation with professor) by the end of this week. If you haven’t seen me in my office hours yet, I hope to see you on Thursday, Oct. 5th to discuss what film you want to review! Readings for Week 6: John Hess and Patricia R. Zimmerman, “Transnational Documentaries: A Manifesto,” Transnational Cinema: The Film Reader, eds. Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden, 97-108. (Course Reader) Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire,” 3-44. (Course Reader) 2 film reviews: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/06/movies/06pape.html http://archive.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/09/08/paper_dolls_cuts_below_the_surface/ Recommended supplementary readings: Minor Transnationalism, eds. Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005), 1-23. (Canvas) Teshome H. Gabriel, “Colonialism and ‘law and order’ criticism,” Screening World Cinema, editors Catherine Grant and Annette Kuhn (New York: Routledge, 2006), 36-47. (Canvas) FILM SCREENING: Paper Dolls dir. Tomer Heymann (2006) – Oct. 10 (Tuesday) Write a discussion board post about the film. Week 6 (Oct. 12): Trans-national Movements in Middle Eastern Cinema What does it mean to be transnational? Discussion of the transnational transgendered subjects of Paper Dolls. Film review exercise. Synthesis of our discussions about cosmopolitanism and Levantinism Introduction to the documentary genre. Film reviews due by e-mail next week, Friday at 5PM. Readings for Week 7: Elhum Shakerifar, “Visual Representations of Iranian Transgenders,” Iranian Studies 44, no. 3 (2011): 327-339. (Course Reader) Butler, Gender Trouble, “Freud and the Melancholia of Gender,” 73-84. (Course Reader) Corrigan, A Short Guide, “Style and Structure in Writing,” 108-125. Recommended supplementary readings: Sigmund Freud, “Mourning and Melancholia” (Canvas) Jessica Berman, “Is the Trans in Transnational the Trans in Transgender?” Modernism/modernity 24, 2 (April 2017), 217-244. (Canvas) FILM SCREENING: Be Like Others (Transsexual in Iran), dir. Tannaz Eshaghian (2007) – Oct. 16 (Monday) Write a discussion board post about the film. III. Documenting Gender In Middle Eastern Cinema Week 7 (Oct. 19): Gender Trouble in Tehran Discussion of the documentary genre Discussion of Be Like Others – religion, gender, government, and cinematic representation Using Butler’s Gender Trouble to think about gender in Iran Film reviews due by Friday at 5PM! Readings for Week 8: Hamid Naficy, A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Vol. 2, “The Golestan Film Workshop,” 76-97. (Course Reader) Hamid Naficy, “Situating Accented Cinema,” Transnational Cinema: The Film Reader, eds. Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden, 111-129. (Course Reader) Nasrin Rahimieh, “Capturing the Abject of the Nation in the House is Black,” Forugh Farrokhzad, Poet of Modern Iran: Iconic Woman and Pioneer of New Persian Poetry, eds. Dominic P. Brookshaw and Nasrin Rahimieh (London: I.B. Tauris, 2010), 125-137. (Course Reader) Recommended supplementary readings: The House is Black DVD Insert (Canvas) Matthew Abbott, Abbas Kiarostami and Film-Philosophy (Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), 1-31; 63-78. (Canvas) Richard James Havis, “Flashback: Ten (2002)” FILM SCREENING: Ten, dir. Abbas Kiarostami (2002) and The House is Black, dir. Forugh Farrokhzad (1962) – Oct. 24 (Tuesday) Write a discussion board post about the films. Week 8 (Oct. 26): Documenting the Family in Iranian Cinema Discussion and comparison of The House is Black and Ten Close readings of specific scenes from each film and group work. Students must select a Middle Eastern film to critique in light of our class discussions (in consultation with professor) by end of this week. Students may ask for suggestions, but should first compile a list of films they are interested in and think about what they want to discuss in their critiques. Readings for Week 9: Shohini Chaudhuri and Howard Finn, “The open image: poetic realism and the New Iranian Cinema,” Screening World Cinema, editors Catherine Grant and Annette Kuhn (New York: Routledge, 2006), 163-181. (Course Reader) Leila Ahmed, “The Discourse of the Veil,” Women and Gender in Islam (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 144-168. (Course Reader) Recommended supplementary reading: Roxanne Varzi, “Picturing Change: Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ‘Kandahar,’” American Anthropologist 104, no. 3 (Sept. 2002): 931-934. (Course Reader) FILM SCREENING: Journey to Kandahar, dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf (2001) – Oct. 30 (Monday) Write a discussion board post about the film. Week 9 (Nov. 2): Unveiling Afghanistan? Makhmalbaf’s Kandahar and Documenting Problems Brief discussion of final project expectations Critical discussion of Makhmalbaf’s Kandahar Synthesis of our discussions about documentary film Readings for Week 10: Jay Ruby, “Speaking For, Speaking About, Speaking With, or Speaking Alongside: An Anthropological and Documentary Dilemma,” Journal of Film and Video 44, no. 1/2 (Spring and Summer 1992): 42-66. (Course Reader) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: a reader, eds. Laura Chrisman and Patrick Williams (New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993), 66-111. (Course Reader) Film criticism essays due IN CLASS next week. Final project proposals due by Friday 5PM next week. Recommended supplementary reading: Lan Dong, “Childhood in War and Violence: Turtles Can Fly and The Kite Runner,” Portrayals of Children in Popular Culture: Fleeting Images, eds. Vibiana Bowman Cvetkovic and Debbie Olsen (New York: Lexington Books, 2014), 195-206. (Canvas) FILM SCREENING: Turtles Can Fly, dir. Bahman Ghobadi (2005) – Nov. 7 (Tuesday) Write a discussion board post about the film. IV. Gender, War, and Occupation In Middle Eastern Cinema Week 10 (Nov. 9): Cinema and War in the Middle East Discussion of “Can the Subaltern Speak?” and how to read Turtles Can Fly Problems with cinema before, during, and after war. Film criticism essays due in class! Sign up for Oral Presentations during Weeks 11 and 13. Final Project Proposals due by Friday 5PM! Readings for Week 11: Refqa Abu-Remaileh, “Palestinian anti-narratives in the films of Elia Suleiman,” Arab Media Society (Course Reader) Khatib, “Conflicts Within and Without: The Arab-Israeli Conflict (and the Gulf War),” Filming the Modern Middle East, 105-163. Corrigan, A Short Guide, “Researching the Movies,” 126-154. FILM SCREENING: Divine Intervention, dir. Elia Suleiman (2002) – Nov. 13 (Monday) Write a discussion board post about the film. Week 11 (Nov. 16): Framing the Occupation in Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention Rubrics for final projects handed out and discussed briefly in class. Close readings of scenes from Divine Intervention to follow oral presentations. Oral presentations of critical essays and Q&A with classmates. Readings for Week 13: Khatib, Filming the Modern Middle East, “Gendered Tools of Nationalism,” 63-104. 2 film reviews (read and compare): Ella Shohat, Wedding in Galilee, MERIP’s Middle East Report http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940DE7DF103CF932A25750C0A96E948260 FILM SCREENING: Wedding in Galilee, Michel Khleifi (1987) – Nov. 27 (Monday) No discussion board post. Work on final project. Week 12 (No Class - Thanksgiving) Week 13 (Nov. 30): Gender Under Occupation Discussion of film reviews and close readings of scenes from Wedding in Galilee Oral presentations of critical essays and Q&A with classmates. Readings for Week 14: Michael Richardson, Gestures of Testimony: Torture, Trauma, and Affect in Literature (selections on Incendies) (Course Reader) Khatib, Filming the Modern Middle East, “The Politicized Landscape,” 15-61. 1 film review: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/apr/22/entertainment/la-et-incendies-20110422 FILM SCREENING: Incendies, dir. Denis Villeneuve (2010) – Dec. 5 (Tuesday) No discussion board post. Work on final project. Week 14 (Dec. 7): War and Memory in Middle Eastern Cinema Discussion of Incendies Synthesis and review: what have we learned about gender, transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, postcolonialism, the documentary genre, effects of war and occupation and how do these categories relate to the production and understanding of Middle Eastern cinema? NO FILM SCREENING THIS WEEK – WORK ON FINAL PROJECTS Week 14: (Reading Period) Presentations of Final Projects ***Monday, December 11th, 2017 – J. Walter Wilson 502, 7-10:00PM*** Final Project explanatory pieces and final research papers are due on the day of the scheduled exam, by the scheduled exam time (Dec. 16, 2:00PM). They should be turned in through Canvas. If you have any difficulties with Canvas, e-mail your paper to levi_thompson@brown.edu. Students completing creative projects will present them and students writing research papers will have the chance to briefly introduce their topics to their classmates during the final session on December 11th. Please keep your presentations under ten minutes long to ensure we have enough time (depending on # of presenters, this may change). This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor. Framing Gender in Middle Eastern Cinema GNSS 1961G Syllabus *Prerequisites: No prior knowledge of the Middle East or foreign languages is required. All films will be shown with subtitles in English. Students with no background in gender theory, film studies, or postcolonial theory are welcome to join as well, but may want to do additional readings for topics they are unfamiliar with.