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Course Description
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Course Name
Human Rights and Cultural Representations
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Host University
Universidad de Belgrano
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Location
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Area of Study
International Relations, Latin American Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies
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Language Level
Taught In English
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Course Level Recommendations
Upper
ISA offers course level recommendations in an effort to facilitate the determination of course levels by credential evaluators.We advice each institution to have their own credentials evaluator make the final decision regrading course levels.
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Contact Hours
60 -
Recommended U.S. Semester Credits3
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Recommended U.S. Quarter Units5
Hours & Credits
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Overview
Human Rights and Cultural Representations (PALAS 444)Universidad de BelgranoProgram in Argentine and Latin American StudiesInstruction in EnglishCourse descriptionThe cultural and human responses to the violence of genocide politics in the Holocaust will serve as an excellent start point to analyze political repression in Latin America (focus on Guatemala, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile). Central to the theoretical and critical corpus of the course, is the multidisciplinary work of scholars (e.g. Soshana Feldman, Cathy Caruth, Dominick La Capra, Astrid Erll, Jean Amery, Giorgio Agamben). This course discusses not only the impact of trauma, the legacy of memory and the role of the national states during dictatorships in these countries, but also how to make these experiences productive to reconstruct selves and societies. The corpus includes literature, testimonies, documentary and feature film, art, oral history, journalism, poem and popular music by such authors as FrenchJewish Claude Lanzmann, Chilean film director Patricio Guzmán, documentaries by children of the argentine disappeared and literatura by novelist Laura Alcoba.Course requirementsFollowing UB policies, students need a minimum of 75% of attendance to be in good standing for the final exam. Sliding the ID card is the only way to track attendance. Students are expected to do close readings, participate significantly in class and do one oral presentation. Requirements also include a mid term and final in-class exams. The exams will have essay format and students will be allowed to use class material in order to answer exam questions.Any student caught plagiarizing will be given a "no credit" for all courses taken during the semester.PolicyParticipation 20%Mid-Term Exam 20%Oral Presentation (1) 30%FinalExam 30%Week 1Course presentation. Characteristics, expectations and goals for the class.Introduction to some critical and theoretical issues on memory and testimony.The frame of the testimony - On the concept of languages and representation.Primary source, Claude Lanzmann´s Shoa (Fragment-projection in class)Week 2Cultural artifacts of the ShoaJean Amery, At the mind´s limits: contemplations by a survivor on Auschwitz and its realities. "At the mind´s limits" (1-20)Memory in Culture Chapter 6 "Literature as a Medium of cultural Memory" (144-172)Unclaimed Experience, Trauma, Narrative and History. "The wound and the voice" (1-9)Week 3Introducing Latin America: blood and fireA brief history of the dictatorhips in the Southern Cone. Uruguay: 1972, Chile: 1973, Argentina: 1976Chile: Patricio Guzmán, The Battle of Chile (documentary, 1972-1979.Fragments)Week 4ChileTestimonial source: Arce, Luz. Inferno, a Story of Terror and Survival Patricio Guzmán, Chile the Obstinate Memory (documentary, 1997)Week 5Testimonial source: Arce, Luz. Inferno, a Story of Terror and SurvivalPatricio Guzmán, Nostalgia for the Light (documentary, 2010)Week 6Chile: artifacts of memory.Raúl Zurita´s poetry Purgatory (in class reading) and Alfredo Jaar (artist, architect, sculptor)Conclusions on Chile.Week 7Argentina: 1976-1983) Images of disaster/ An unimagined catastropheThe conditions of a testimony: Pablo Díaz, survivor of the Night of the Pencils, September 16 1976 (La Noche de los Lápices)Week 8Feitlowitz, Marguerite. A lexicon of terror: Argentina and the legacies of torture.Introduction (3-20)Alicia Partnoy.The Little School, Tales of Disappearance and Survival (excerpts)Week 9Review for mid-term examMid-Term ExamWeek 10Feitlowitz, Marguerite. A lexicon of terror: Argentina and the legacies of torture. Chapter 1 (21-72)Nora Strejilevich. A single, numberless death (excerpts)The legacies of terror, the blood of memory. HIJOS: sons and daughters of the disappeared.(Re) constructing identity(ies)The Rabbit House (novel, 2009) Laura AlcobaWeek 11The Rabbit House (novel, 2009) Laura Alcoba - ConclusionsWeek 12The gaze that reconstructs what has been lost: children of the disappeared as movie directors.Mourning and social responsabilities/complicitiesM (2007) Nicolás PrivideraWeek 13About Justice and MemoryJuan José Campanella, Secret of their eyes (2009)Week 14Jean Amery, At the mind´s limits: contemplations by a survivor on Auschwitz and its realities."Resentments" (62-81) and review for the final examReview for Final ExamWeek 15Final ExamSIGNATURE OF FINAL GRADE SHEET IS MANDATORY
Course Disclaimer
Courses and course hours of instruction are subject to change.
Eligibility for courses may be subject to a placement exam and/or pre-requisites.