(Dis)Integration in Frames: Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Yugoslav & Post-Yugoslav Cinema

This course investigates the complex relationship between aesthetics and ideology in Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav cinema. It examines the variety of ways in which race, ethnicity, gender inequality and national identity are approached, constructed, promoted, or critically dissected in film texts from the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and its successor states (Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia,FYR Macedonia). The course has four thematic units and is organized chronologically. Unit I providesa historical perspective on the former Yugoslavia during and after World War II. Unit II examines women’s lives under Yugoslav state socialism, with particular emphasis on the relationship between sex and politics. Unit III explores Yugoslavia’s wars of the 1990s. Unit IV focuses on the Romaminority in Yugoslavia. Films by Zafranović, Makavejev, Žilnik, Kusturica, Manchevski, Dragojević,Žbanać. All readings and discussions will be in English.