RFLA 200H 01 and 02 - Trauma in Lit and Film (CRNs 10332/10333)

Native American Gemma Benton wrote: “Our ancestors knew that healing comes in cycles. One generation carries the pain so the next can live and heal.” This literature and film course examines the after-effects of cultural collisions like war, genocide, and imperialism by analyzing the representation of intergenerational trauma in literature and film. Texts include: books I was the Child of Holocaust Survivors, Kindred, Dreaming in Cuban, and Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven; and films Waltz with Bashir and Return of Navajo Boy, as well as Kara Walker’s video installations. Our guiding questions will be: How is trauma passed between generations, and how it is represented?; and What are the ethical, cultural, and socio-political ramifications of both trauma and representation? Concepts and contexts related to trauma, identity, nation-state, globalization, imperialism, class, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and the humanities will be explored in depth.