LACS 44.40 On Survivors, Memories, and Tombs: State Violence in South America through Literature and Cinema
In the 1960s and 1970s, South America experienced a new cycle of state violence perpetrated by military dictatorships. The authoritarian regimes installed in Brazil (1964-85), Uruguay (1973-85), Chile (1973-90) and Argentina (1976-83) caused deep ruptures in collective and individual lives and still resonate in the South American political, social and cultural landscapes. After the democratic systems were reestablished in the region, new facts about the abuse of power by the militaries were disclosed, and a heated debate took place in the public sphere about how to deal with the past. Feature films, documentaries, and fiction and non-fiction literature played an essential role in that debate by providing different strategies of healing scars, honoring victims and survivors, and preserving the memory of both the terror and the grassroots resistance. The experiences and memories of the so-called "dirty war" in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay generated not only several fictional renderings of state terrorism during the "years of lead," but also a whole series of testimonios by those directly affected by it, such as the daughters, sons and spouses of desaparecidos who were assassinated by the machinery of state repression.
This class focuses on the legacies of dictatorships in South America and the politics and aesthetics of representation of state violence and political resistance. Students will be introduced to central concepts of memory and trauma studies and will conduct comparative literary and cinematic analyses of works by Latin American writers and film directors.
Instructor
Minchillo
Cross Listed Courses
COLT 52.05