Professor Eddie Chambers. Cinema of and about the African Diaspora, Fall Sanchez SZB 426 ARH 373D AFR 374F. T/Th 12:30 2:00 - SZB 426

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1 Professor Eddie Chambers Cinema of and about the African Diaspora, Fall 2017 Sanchez SZB 426 ARH 373D AFR 374F T/Th 12:30 2:00 - SZB 426 Global Cultures flag Eddie Chambers, Office Art and Art History Building Office phone eddiechambers@austin.utexas.edu Office Hours, Tuesday 10:30am 12:00pm This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-u.s. cultural group, past or present. This class will look at cinema of the African Diaspora, an important manifestation of identity and cultural expression. Over the course of several decades, independent filmmakes from many different parts of the world, including the US, have been making films that speak to the history, challenges, and multiple identities of people in the African Diaspora. Often overshadowed by more dominant mainstream cinema, these independent films have nevertheless made an important mark and contribution. Films such as Horace Ové Pressure, from the mid 1970s, told the story of the coming of age of not just one Black Londoner, but of a new generation, born of Caribbean migrants who came to Britain in the years of the mid 20 th century. Rue cases nègres (made in the early 1980s and also known as Black Shack Alley), set in Martinique, in the early 1930s tells the story of young José and his grandmother who live in a small village. In so doing, the film offers insights into the nuances of the French-speaking, early 20 th century post-slavery community that José and his family are a part of. Other films of the Caribbean the class will look at include the Jamaican classic, The Harder They Come. The class will also examine films such as Nothing But a Man, filmed in 1964 and set in the context of the Civil Rights movement, and Charles Burnett s Killer of Sheep, (1977), a masterpiece of African American filmmaking which looks at the life of Stan, a slaughterhouse worker. Learning Goals

2 By the end of this course you will be ready to: Pose critical questions of the ways in which film makers across the globe have created stories about the experiences of the peoples of Africa and the African Diaspora Develop close reading and visual literacy skills in order to experiment with different methods of investigation and synthesize those findings into coherent verbal and written arguments Thoughtfully and respectfully critique the intellectual work of others, and evaluate its usefulness in relationship to your own inquiry and academic interests Have a greater understanding of the meaning and manifestations of diaspora, as relating to peoples of African origin Articulate your own opinions, arguments and understandings of cinema of the African Diaspora Thursday August 31 Introduction: Cinema of and about the African Diaspora Text: Michael T. Martin, Framing the Black in Black Diasporic Cinemas, Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality, Wayne State University Press, 1996: 1-21 Tuesday September 5 The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, Jamaica, 1972) Text: Loretta Collins, The Harder They Come: Rougher Version, Small Axe, March (1): Tuesday September 5 - end of add and drop Thursday September 7 Handsworth Songs (John Akomfrah, UK, 1986): An Enduring Document Text: Coco Fusco, Black Filmmaking in Britain s Workshop Section, Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality. Wayne State University Press, 1996: Supplementary Text: Eddie Chambers, Handsworth Songs and the Archival Image, Ghosting: The Role of the Archive within Contemporary Artists Film and Video, Picture This, Bristol, 2006: Tuesday September 12 Sugar Cane Alley (Euzhan Palcy, Martinique, 1984) Text: Keith Q. Warner, On Adapting a West Indian Classic to the Cinema: The Implications of Success, Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality, Wayne State University Press, 1996: Thursday September 14 Tommy L. Lott, A No-Theory Theory of Contemporary Black Cinema, Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality, Wayne State University Press, 1996

3 40-55 Tuesday September 19: Mbye Cham, Shape and Shaping of Caribbean Cinema Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality, Wayne State University Press, 1996: Thursday September 21 Sankofa (Haile Gerima, USA/Ghana/Burkina Faso/UK/Germany, 1993 Text: Tama Hamilton-Wray, Return to the Past, Forward into the Future: Gerima s Sankofa, Chapter Four of The Cinema of Haile Gerima: Black Film as a Liberating Cinema, Proquest, Umi Dissertation Publishing, United States, 2011: Tuesday September 26 Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene, France/Senegal, 1966) Text: Françoise Pfaff, Sembene: A Griot of Modern Times, Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality Wayne State University Press, 1996: Thursday September 28 Solomon Northup s Odyssey (Gordon Parks, USA, 1984) Text: Solomon Northup, 12 Years a Slave, chapters tbc Tuesday October 3 Pressure, (Horace Ové, UK, 1976) Text: Stephen Bourne, Black in the British Frame: A Film and Television Drama Survey , Black in the British Frame, Continuum, 2001: Thursday October 5 Babylon (Franco Rosso, UK, 1981) Text: Text: Stephen Bourne, Black in the British Frame: A Film and Television Drama Survey , Black in the British Frame, Continuum, 2001: Tuesday October 10 Burning an Illusion (Menelik Shabazz, UK, 1981) Text: Lola Young, Fear of the Dark: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Cinema, Routledge, 1995 pages tbc Thursday October 12 Basquiat (Julian Schnabel, USA, 1996) Text: Leonhard Emmerling, Pay For Soup. Build A Fort. Set That On Fire : Basquait And The 1980 s Art Scene, Jean-Michel Basquiat , Taschen, 2003: 7-9 and bell hooks, We Are Always More Than Our Pain: Beyond Basquiat, retrieved from on 3/20/2008 Tuesday October 17 Dutchman (Anthony Harvey, UK, 1967)

4 Text: Matthew Rebhorn, Flaying Dutchman: Masochism, Minstrelsy, and the Gender Politics of Amiri Baraka's Dutchman, Callaloo, Vol. 26, No. 3 (Summer, 2003), pp Thursday October 19 Looking for Langston (Isaac Julien, UK, 1989) Text: Manthia Diawara, The Absent One: The Avant-Garde and the Black Imaginary in Looking for Langston, Marcellus Blount and George P. Cunningham (eds), Representing Black Men, Routledge, 1996: Tuesday October 24 Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, USA, 1996) Text: Marlon Riggs, Black Macho Revisited: Reflections of a SNAP! Queen and Essex Hemphill, Does Your Mama Know About Me? Rudolph P. Byrd and Beverly Guy- Sheftall (eds), Traps: African American Men on Gender and Sexuality, Indiana University Press, 2001: Thursday October 26 Nothing But a Man (Michael Roemer, USA, 1964) Text: Donald Bogle, The 1960s: Problem People into Militants, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, Continuum (Fourth Edition), 2001: Tuesday October 31 Space Is the Place (John Coney, USA, 1972) Text: John F. Szwed, Space Is The Place: The Lives And Times Of Sun Ra, Da Capo Press, 1998, pages tbc Thursday November 2 When the Drum is Beating (Whitney Dow, Haiti, 2011) Text: Philippe Girard, Haiti: The Tumultuous History - From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation, St. Martin's Griffin, 2010, pages tbc Tuesday November 7 Belle (Amma Asante, USA, 2014) Text: Paula Byrne, Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice, Harper Perennial, 2014, pages tbc Thursday November 9 Playing Away (Horace Ové, UK, 1986) Text: Jack Williams, Cricket and Race, Oxford, 2001, pages tbc Tuesday November 14 Seven Songs for Malcolm X (John Akomfrah, UK, 1993)

5 Text: Bruce Perry, Political Martyr (Chapter 57) Section VIII Epilogue America s Lumumba (Chapter 58) No More Fears (Chapter 59), Malcolm X: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America, Station Hill Press, 1991: Thursday November 16 Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, USA, Text: Julie Dash, Making Daughters of the Dust, Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality, Wayne State University Press, 1996: Tuesday November 21 La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, France, 1995) Text: Ginette Vincendeau, La Haine, I B Tauris, 2005, pages tbc Wednesday November 22 - Saturday November 25 Thanksgiving holidays Tuesday November 28 Killer of Sheep, (Charles Burnett. USA 1977) Text: Ntongela Masilela, The Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers, Manthia Diawara (ed), Black American Cinema, Routledge, 1993: Thursday November 30 To Sleep with Anger (Charles Burnett, USA, 1990) Text: Donald Bogle, The 1990s: New Stars, New Filmmakers, and a New African American Cinema, (extract) Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, Continuum (Fourth Edition), 2001: Tuesday December 5 Thursday December 7 last day of class Monday December , 10:00am 3500-word paper due Particulars Students are required to produce response papers, relating to the previous week s classes. The first response paper is due Thursday September 7. The reaction papers should be a word length of no fewer than 500 words. Response papers will be graded and will comprise 30% of the final grade. A 3500-word paper, relating to some aspect of the class, must be submitted no later than 10.00am on Monday December Towards the final weeks of the class, each student is required to make a 15-minute presentation to the class of their research paper in progress. All possible assistance will

6 be rendered in helping students prepare for their presentations. My strong recommendation is that you turn your attention to your research paper earlier rather than later in the semester. Required textbook: Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality Wayne State University Press, 1996 Accommodation. The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities, , For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students. Academic Integrity University Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty: Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Please see UT Honor Code (or statement of ethics) and an explanation or example of what constitutes plagiarism (Link to University Honor Code: For further information please visit the Student Judicial Services Web site: Class Attendance Students are required to attend all classes. Please inform instructor ahead of time if you will miss any class. Full attendance is 25 points. For every unexcused absence from class, a student will drop 5 points. University policy on holy days states, A student who misses classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day should inform the instructor as far in advance of the absence as possible, so that arrangements can be made to complete an assignment within a reasonable time after the absence. Unless absences have been notified in advance, students failing to sign the class attendance sheet, or marked as present by the professor, will be considered absent. Class attendance and participation will count towards final grade. By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.

7 Assignments and Grading Attendance 25 points Class participation 10 points Response papers 30 points Research Paper 35 points Total..100 points A points B points. C points. D points. E points. F. Below 50 points. There are no exams relating to this class Class readings will be made available on Canvas, with the exception of those drawn from Michael T. Martin (ed), Cinemas of the Black Diaspora: Diversity, Dependence, and Oppositionality, Wayne State University Press, Likewise, class announcements will be posted on Canvas No laptop use in class No cell phone use/texting in class No note-taking on cell phones This class requires your full attention and respecting of the professor, the extracts being screened, and of each other. Cellphones must not be on your desk, in your lap, and must not, under any circumstances, be used or checked during screenings or at other times in class. Failure to observe this will result in 5 points being deducted, for each misdemeanor. You must be prepared to contribute to class discussions, as this is an essential element of a 100% grade.