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SYLLABUS
Traveling Identities: Immigrants, Exiles and Sojourners in Film,
Literature and Culture
SPRING 2001
"Migrants must, of necessity, make a new imaginative relationship
with the world, because of the loss of familiar habitats. And for
the plural, hybrid, metropolitan result of such imaginings, the
cinema, in which peculiar fusions have always been legitimate. .
. may well be the ideal location." —Salman Rushdie, Imaginary
Homelands (1992).
*****
Eva Rueschmann, Assistant Professor of Cultural Studies
Office: ASH 107
Office hours: M 1-2:30 and Th 1-3
Phone: 559-5429
E-mail: erHA@hampshire.edu
Meeting Times: Monday 2:30-5:30 in ASH Auditorium for screenings
(screenings will range from 90 minutes to occasionally 3 hours);
Wednesday 2:30-5:20 in FPH 107 for seminars.
Course Description: This seminar focuses on the experiences
of emigrants, exiles and sojourners, which has inspired a number
of recent and contemporary novels, feature films, documentaries,
autobiographies, and theoretical debates about cultural identity
and place. Using cultural studies of travel and displacement, ethnic
studies, and psychoanalytic theories of identity as critical frameworks
for discussion, we will examine some of the following issues arising
out of cinematic, literary, autobiographical and theoretical texts
on migration and displacement: the complexities of adaptation or
resistance to new cultures; culture transfer, hybridity and biculturality;
the journey as metaphor, escape, physical ordeal and psychological
odyssey; the meanings of nostalgia and home; intergenerational conflicts
between tradition and modernity; protagonists' and artists' representation
and negotiations of national and ethnic identities; the cultural
and psychological consequences of border crossings; and the interconnections
of language, culture and sense of self.
Course Texts: available at Hampshire College Bookstore
Caryl Phillips, A State of Independence (Viking)
Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language
(Penguin, 1989)
Hanif Kureishi, My Beautiful Laundrette & The Rainbow Sign
(Faber& Faber, 1986)
Fae Myenne Ng, Bone (Harper Collins, 1993)
Mehdi Charef, Tea in the Harem (Serpent's Tail)
Iain Chambers, Migrancy, Culture, Identity (Routledge, 1994)
Avtar Brah, Cartographies of Diaspora (Routledge
Xeroxed course reader available at CopyCat Printshop, 37 E. Pleasant
Street, Amherst (next to Bertucci's), Ph: 549-2854. Course packet
#: .
Library Reserve: I am placing most of the central course
texts on reserve. In addition, some of the films will be available
for second viewing either at the Library Reserve or Media Services
Desk.
Requirements for evaluation:
1) Full attendance and participation - see below
2) weekly response papers/journal
3) one group project and individual presentation paper
4) final research paper/creative project, 12 pages minimum.
5) end-of-semester portfolio: DUE MAY 7 in my box in ASH; it should
include a self-evaluation, final project, complete journal/response
papers
Attendance and participation: Regular attendance and active
participation are essential elements to the success of the class.
I expect you to attend all screenings and seminar discussions, and
you should be prepared to contribute your ideas and insights on
a regular basis. This means you will have to view the films screened
on Mondays, carefully read the assigned articles and books and take
notes. You will only have one opportunity to see the films on a
large screen on Monday afternoons. Some of the videos will be available
for viewing at the Library Reserve or Media Services Desk. If you
have to miss a screening, make sure that you see the video on your
own time before discussions on Wednesday. More than one absence
from the Wednesday seminars will affect your evaluation. All absences
need to be acknowledged (preferably in advance) by calling my voice
mail (x5429), by e-mailing me (erHA@hampshire.edu) or by leaving
a message in my mail box. Please be punctual and return after the
break to attend the full class period.
If your have any questions or concerns about the class at any time
during the semester, please, don't hesitate to come to my office
to talk.
Film/video screenings: See syllabus and screening schedule.
Course Website: I have designed a website http://helios.hampshire.edu/~erHA/hacu234
to accompany this class. You will find the syllabus, class member
e-mail addresses, assignments, film notes, and additional resources,
such as links to other webpages and research materials on specific
topics related to the course. I encourage you to take advantage
of the course page, and I would appreciate any feedback on it since
this is the first semester that I will use an on-line component
to the class. On a very basic level, the webpage provides you with
easy access to the course materials in case you lose your syllabus,
need an early copy of the film notes etc. On a more advanced level,
you can use this site to start "surfing" for internet resources
on the topic of migration and exile.
Course Outline
*You need to have read the essays and literature by the day listed.
| Wed 1/31 |
Introduction
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| Mon 2/5 |
Historical Passages I: Black Diasporas
Screening of Sugar Cane Alley(Martinique/France
1984, dir. Euzhan Palcy, 107 min.)
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| Wed 2/7 |
Discussion of Sugar Cane Alley and readings
Readings: Caryl Phillips, A State of Independence
Ketu Katrak, "Colonialism, Imperialism, and Imagined Homes"
(*)
Stuart Hall, "Cultural Identity and Diaspora" (*)
Susan Linfield, "Interview with Euzhan Palcy" (*)
Optional reading: Andrew Gurr, "Home is neither here
nor there" (*)
Video clip of interview with Caryl Phillips
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| Mon 2/12 |
Historical Passages II: Japanese Picture Brides
in Hawaii
Screening of Picture Bride (USA
1995, dir. Kayo Hatta, 95 min.)
|
| Wed 2/14 |
Discussion of Picture Bride and readings
Readings: Marie Hara, "1895: Honeymoon Hotel" (short story)
(*)
Mitsuye Yamada, "I Learned to Sew" (poem) (*)
Mei T. Nakato, "Immigration - 1860-1924", "The Family," and
"Work and Leisure" (chapt. 1,2 & 3 from Japanese
American Women) (*)
Harry Kitano, "The Japanese American Family" (*)
In-Class screening ofHalving the Bones (70 mins.)
|
| Mon 2/19 |
Migration in the Americas, Myth and Magic Realism
Screening of El Norte (USA
1983, dir. Gregory Nava, 141 min.)
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| Wed 2/21 |
Discussion of El Norte and readings
Readings: Helena Maria Viramontes, "The Cariboo Cafˇ" (short
story) (*)
Mario Barrera, "Story Structure in Latino Feature Films"(*)
Allan F. Burns, "Always Maya" (*)
Karl Taube, "Maya Mythology" (*)
Rosa Linda Fregoso, "Female Subjectivity as Allegory in El Norte"
(*) Parrillo, "The Study of Minorities" and "Culture
and Social Structure" (handouts)
Leon Grinberg, "Exile, A Specific Kind of Migration"
(handout)
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| Mon 2/26 |
"Exploration through Imagery" Exercise -- Bring
to class copies of images on the themes of home, exile and
migration. We will put these up on the walls of ASH Aud to
create an impromptu gallery.
Reading: Iain Chambers, "An Impossible Homecoming"
and "Migrant Landscapes" from Migrancy, Culture,
Identity.
Edward Said, "Reflections on Exile" (*)
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| Wed 2/28 |
No Class - Exam/Advising Day - This is
a good time to make an appointment to discuss how the class
is going for you.
|
| Mon 3/5 |
Time, Memory and the Women's Cinematic Autobiography
Screening of Song of the Exile
(Hong Kong 1990, dir. Ann Hui 100 min.)
Readings: Patricia Brett Erens "The Film Work of Ann
Hui" (*)
Ackbar Abbas, "The New Hong Kong Cinema and the Deja
Disparu"(*)
|
| Wed 3/7 |
Language, Identity, and the Immigrant Autobiographer
Readings: Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation
Marianne Hirsch, "Pictures of a Displaced Girlhood" (*)
Leon Grinberg, "Migration and Identity" and "Migration and
Language" (handout)
|
| Mon 3/12 |
Exile, Visual Representation and Loss
Calendar (Armenia/Canada 1993,
dir. Atom Egoyan, 75 min.)
|
| Wed 3/14 |
Discussion of Calendar and readings
Readings: Laura Marks, "The Memory of Images" (from
The Skin of the Film) (*)
Hamid Naficy, "The Accented Style of the Independent
Transnational Cinema: A Conversation with Atom Egoyan"
(*)
|
| 3/17-3/25 |
No Class - Spring Break
|
| Mon 3/26 |
South Asian Diaspora in Britain: Redefining
National, Ethnic and Sexual Identities
My Beautiful Laundrette
(UK, 1985, dir. Stephen Frears, 98 min.)
|
| Wed 3/28 |
Discussion of My Beautiful Laundrette and
readings
Readings: Hanif Kureishi, My Beautiful Laundrette & The Rainbow
Sign
Salman Rushdie, "The Broken Mirror" (*)
Susan Torrey Barber, "Insurmountable Difficulties and Moments
of Ecstasy: Crossing Class, Ethnic and Sexual Barriers in the
Films of Stephen Frears" (*)
Avtar Brah, "Constructions of the 'the Asian' in post-war Britain:
culture, politics and identity in the pre-Thatcher years" (Cartographies
of Diaspora)
Vincent Parillo, "Dominant-Minority Relations" (handout)
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| Mon 4/2 |
South Asian Immigrant Women and Intergenerational
Differences
Bhaji on the Beach (UK 1993,
dir. Gurinder Chadha, 100 min.) |
| Wed 4/4 |
Discussion of Bhaji and readings
Readings: Avtar Brah, "Gendered Spaces: Women of South Asian
descent in 1980s Britain" (Cartographies of Diaspora)
Andrea Stuart, "Blackpool Illuminations" (*)
Bharati Mukherjee, "The Tenant" and "A Four-Hundred-Year-Old
Woman" (*)
In-class screening of Chadha's I'm British But...
|
| Mon 4/9 |
Bicultural Identity and the Genealogy of Chinese
Immigration Double Happiness
(Canada 1995, dir. Mina Shum, 87 min.) |
| Tue 4/10 |
Exam/Advising Day - come see me to discuss
or firm up your final project. |
| Wed 4/11 |
Discussion of Double Happiness and readings
Readings: Fae Myenne Ng, Bone
Lisa Lowe, "Decolonization, Displacement, Disidentification:
Writing and the Question of History" (*)
Morrison Wong, "The Chinese American Family" (*)
Viewing of Arnold Genthe's Pictures of Old Chinatown |
| Mon 4/16 |
Multiethnic Identities, Immigration and Transnational
Youth Culture in France
Hate/la haine (France 1996,
dir. Matthew Kassovitz, 95 min.)
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| Wed 4/18 |
Discussion of Hate and readings
Readings: Mehdi Charef, Tea in the Harem
Keith Reader, "After the Riot"(*)
Chris Darke, review of La haine (*)
Alec Hargreaves, "Language and Identity in beur culture" (*)
Avtar Brah, "Re-Framing Europe: Gendered racisms, ethnicities
and nationalisms in contemporary Western Europe"
|
| Mon 4/23 |
Borders and Boundaries: Mapping Multiethnic Histories
in the US
Lone Star (USA 1996, dir.
John Sayles, 137 min.)
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| Wed 4/25 |
Discussion of Lone Star and readings
Readings: Dennis and Joan West, "Borders and Boundaries: An
Interview with John Sayles" and review of Lone Star
(*)
Vincent Parillo, "The American Mosaic" (handout)
Sandra Cisneros, "Never Marry a Mexican" (*)
Gloria Anzaldua, excerpt from Borderlands/La Frontera
(*)
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| Mon 4/30 |
Surprise film! |
| Wed 5/2 |
Last Day of Class - discussion of
final film, course themes, and student presentation on final
projects. |
Overview of Screenings: Mondays at 2:30 in ASH Aud.
2/5 Sugar Cane Alley/Rue Cases Negres (at Media Services
Desk V142)
2/12 Picture Bride (On Library Reserve)
2/19 El Norte
3/5 Song of the Exile
3/12 Calendar
3/26 My Beautiful Laundrette (On Library Reserve)
4/2 Bhaji on the Beach (On Library Reserve)
4/9 Double Happiness (On Library Reserve)
4/16 Hate/la haine
4/23 Lone Star (On Library Reserve)
4/30 Surprise Film
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