SPAN3807: Medical Humanities and Latin American Film: Narratives of Health, Illness & Trauma

In this course, we will study the representations of health, illness, and trauma in Latin American films. We will focus on the different ways in which the moving image account for different stories and perspectives. We will pay particular attention to the use of the camera in relation to the stories told by the different characters of the film, in particular, doctors and health workers, patients and their families. We will focus on the process of storytelling of illness and trauma, and on the essential role that the study of cultural and socio-political frameworks have in the study of narratives. Our objective will be to explore the visual, acoustic and narrative strategies through which pain, illness, trauma, and death are represented, as well as the role of those who listen to these narratives (friends, family, health professionals and, of course, ourselves as spectators) in the process of interpretation (and the cultural aspects of interpretation). In this course, students will reflect on the human condition, and in the use of storytelling to understand and communicate one’s life story, focusing on the moments in which that the experience of illness or trauma interrupts and transforms a life story. Students will work in groups to create narratives based on the films studied in class and to analyze films (and their own narratives) with critical approaches coming from, visual and acoustic studies, philosophy, literary studies, and narrative medicine. prereq: A grade of C- or better in SPAN 3104W or SPAN 3104V or TLDO 3104W or ARGN 3104W or SPAN 3105W or SPAN 3105V or TLDO 3105W or SPAN 3107W or SPAN 3107V or TLDO 3107W

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