CMS 321
Prof. Ruíz (dfruiz@uw.edu)
Winter 2023 JHN 111
T/TH 2:30-4:20 pm
Zoom Office Hours By Appointment
Meeting ID: 970 4085 8786
Visions of Racial Reckoning and Justice
This course examines oppositional cinema and media that account for racial injustice and pose alternative visions for recovery, sovereignty, abolition, and dignity through formal innovation. In our study of independent and experimental films and media, our primary concern will be the relationship between ethics and aesthetics. We will explore the politics of documentation, abstraction, testimony, witnessing, and participation at the heart of “reckoning” and “justice” through diverse films, videos, digital artworks, and readings. Through our intersectional approach, we will necessarily engage with gender, sexuality, class, and colonialism.
In some ways, this course responds to contemporary, mainstream discourse of racial reckoning as a recent phenomenon. Our engagement with a historical survey (1980s–present) of oppositional film and media attests to the longstanding efforts of historically marginalized cultural producers to critically envision a more just society. Contributions by Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian-American filmmakers and new media artists will help us unpack the ways in which oppositional media sparks social change.
Students will practice and refine their film analysis skills through writing assignments and a final paper. Pending approval and progress of writing assignments, students may instead create a short film (including a written component) for their final project.
In our readjustment to in-person learning, we will put into practice lessons of the pandemic: put health first and embrace adaptability.
Put health first: Face masks are strongly encouraged for everyone. Students are highly encouraged to wear face masks that cover the nose and mouth at all times. We will take a break during class so that everyone can stretch, have a quick snack, and hydrate outside of the classroom.
Students should not attend class if they are feeling ill. If students have any COVID-19 symptoms, they should avoid all public gatherings (including in-person classes) and get tested immediately. Husky Coronavirus Testing is open to all members of the campus community.
-What if I Test Positive for COVID-19? What if I Had a Possible Exposure?
The answer to both questions is the same: immediately contact Environmental Health & Safety’s Covid-19 Response and Prevention Team at covidehc@uw.edu or calling 206-616-3344.
Do not come to class until EH&S tells you it is okay to do so. Do not come to class if you have COVID-19 symptoms.
Embrace adaptability: There is a possibility that this course will need to move online pending state and university policies. I will try to keep the course on schedule, but we may need to adjust things accordingly to best suit changing needs.
I will record every class using Panopto, and I will upload these recordings, along with lecture slides, to our Canvas site within 24 hours of each meeting.
In-person attendance will not be required, but participation is a core component of this class.
Academic Honesty
Students in the class must adhere to UW’s Student Conduct Code, and adhere to the guidelines presented in the College of Arts and Science’s Statement of Student Academic Responsibility . It is the students’ responsibility to read, review, understand, and adhere to these guidelines.
Submitting Assignments and Exams on Canvas
It is your responsibility to check the file you have uploaded and to make sure that it is complete, downloadable, and not corrupted. If you submit a corrupted file, a blank file, or a file in the wrong format, it will be treated as no submission at all, and you will start accruing late penalties.
Access and Disability Resources
If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to your professor at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.
If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.
Accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructors, and DRS. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.
Religious Accommodations
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at
Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.
Electronics:
Please bring your laptop/tablet to class. I highly encourage you to lower your screen when you are not actively note-taking or engaging in a written in-class activity. Your phones, smart watches, and other devices must be turned off and stowed away out of sight to prevent distractions for your fellow classmates.
If you need to borrow a laptop, UW has an excellent technology lending program:
https://itconnect.uw.edu/your-students-can-borrow-laptops-other-tech-for-free/
Difficult/Controversial Materials, Discussions and Trigger Warnings:
Please note that some of the nature of the kinds of films studied in class often explore difficult personal, social and political
subject matter and may contain potentially upsetting language and imagery. These challenges are an
intrinsic part of the cinematic mode we are studying, which by definition tackles important and difficult issues in our
lives and society. I will try to warn the class if we are about to view something that could be upsetting, but
different things are upsetting for different people. Everyone must come prepared to listen and to take
seriously viewpoints different from their own. Not all of us will interpret the films and readings in the same
fashion. Far from this being a problem, such diversity of viewpoints is the foundation of any truly
worthwhile discussion. Willful racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist remarks and
actions will not be tolerated. If you have concerns or questions about some of the materials on the syllabus
or are feeling uncomfortable in class please come to talk with me about it beforehand.
Grade Breakdown
Participation 15%
Scribe 5%
Remix Group Project: 10%
Sequence Analyses (2): 20%
Canvas Discussion Posts 15%
Peer Review: 5%
In-class Final Presentation 5%
Final Paper/Project 25%
Details on Assignments:
Participation:
Participation includes large-group discussion and small-group discussion. Participation also includes bringing in quotes from the reading, asking
questions of your peers, proactively commenting, and making space for your peers to contribute
Scribe
Given that our assigned classroom is not equipped with Panopto recording equipment, we will create an opportunity to share notes from class in the event that students have to miss class. Our class size means that more than one student will be submitting notes for the same class period. This is an added benefit, since we all intake information differently. I will divide students so that there is equal distribution across units. You are only responsible for one day of scribe notes in your assigned unit.
These are due on Canvas in the Scribe Notes Discussion section page by midnight of the day you are submitting your notes. These are graded on completion, but I will ask you to re-do another day if your notes are extremely scant.
Remix Group Project: You are not expected to have artistic skills or technological savvy for this creative assignment. I will provide instructions for the assignment in class.
Sequence Analyses
You will write sequence analyses from two films using two differently categorized methods (such as speculation and comedy). You will choose which sequence to analyze. These are 2 double-spaced pages closely reading a short sequence of your choosing using technical film terms and drawing out the significance of the formal elements This is not a summary or a response, but an exercise in performing close textual analysis and correlating formal film elements to their effects. These are practical exercises in applying film terminology in detail. There should be a clear focus in your explanation of what/how the formal film elements contribute to the viewer’s experience. Be as detailed as possible as you synthesize the construction of the film to their significance.
The assignment must be handed in before the beginning of class in which the film is assigned. For example, if you choose to analyze a sequence from Bontoc Eulogy, you must submit it on Canvas before our class meeting on 1/5. Late deductions will apply.
At least one sequence analysis must be completed in January. If you are thinking of doing a creative final project, plan to complete your second sequence analysis by Feb 2 in order to receive permission to create a video instead of a research paper.
In order to facilitate timely feedback, I will grade these without detailed commentary. Please make an appointment with me in office hours if you would like more detailed feedback.
Daily Discussion Posts
In preparation for each session, you will write a discussion post of a minimum of 100 words or record a 1-minute voice memo discussing one or two aspects of the reading(s) and/or the film assigned. Think of these as springboards for discussion in class, rather than summaries. These are due by 9am of the day we discuss the material in class. For example, a discussion post/voice memo about Marlon Fuentes’ text and/or the film Bontoc Eulogy will be due at 9am on Jan 5.
You may skip a maximum of 4 discussion posts. Late deductions apply.
Final Paper/Project
You will write a 10- page (double spaced) research paper or, pending approval, create a short video (10 mins max) and write an artist statement as a final project. I will provide more information on the following steps, but here is a quick reference of how we will be scaffolding the process:
2/9: Submit 1-page prospectus
2/9: Recommended 10-minute one-on-one meeting with me (Zoom)
2/21 & 2/23: Peer Review of Drafts
3/7 or 3/9: Present paper/video in class
3/15: Final submission on Canvas
I will create peer review groups and Google Drive folders for peer review materials. You will be graded on the quality of feedback you provide your peers in your small group.
A note on the schedule: All assigned reading and viewing must be done before class. So, texts listed for 1/5 must be done before arriving to class on 1/5.
Schedule
Jan. 3: Introduction
Remixing the Historical Record
Jan. 5
Bontoc Eulogy (Marlon Fuentes, 1995)
Read:
Marlon Fuentes, “Extracts of an Imaginary Interview”
Jan. 10
INAATE/SE/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place./ it flies. falls/’ (Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, 2016)
film available at the following link: https://obsidiancoast.art/inaatese-online
Read:
Allison Boucher Krebs, “Native Videographers Shoot Back”
Toby Lee, “The Radical Unreal: Fabulation and Fantasy in Speculative Documentary”
Jan. 12 Time (Garrett Bradley, 2020)
Read:
Yasmina Price, “Tearing, Stitching, Quilting: The Abolition Poetics of Garrett Bradley”
Rick Prelinger, “On the Virtues of Preexisting Material”
Experiments in Reenactment
Jan. 17 The Infiltrators (Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera, 2019)
Read:
Interview with Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera
Jan. 19 NO CLASS
We will cover this material on Jan 17 & 24
Bisbee ‘17 (Peter Greene, 2018)
Read:
Bill Nichols, “Documentary Reenactment and the Fantasmatic Subject”
Speculation
Jan. 24 Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden, 1983)
Read:
Lucas Hilderbrand, “In the heat of the moment: Notes on the past, present, and future of Born in Flames”
BOMB Magazine Interview with Lizzie Borden and Betsy Sussler
Jan. 26: Sleep Dealer (Alex Rivera, 2009)
Read:
Sarah Ann Wells, “The Scar and the Node: Border Science Fiction and the Mise-en-scène of Globalized Labor”
EXTRA CREDIT
Friday Jan 27 4-6pm
Manzanar, Diverted
Henry Art Gallery screening
Upload a photo/selfie from Q&A
Additional points for asking a question during Q&A!
Comedy as Critique
Jan. 31: Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley, 2018)
Read:
Leshu Torchin, “Alienated Labor’s Hybrid Subjects”
Feb. 2 *Submit Remix Videos*
The African Desperate (Martine Syms, 2022)
Read:
Interviews with Martine Syms
https://bombmagazine.org/articles/martine-syms/
https://filmmakermagazine.com/115336-interview-martine-syms-the-african-desperate/#.Y9mJwOzMJGN
Everyday Life
Feb. 7 Hale County This Morning, This Evening (RaMell Ross, 2018)
Read:
Ramell Ross, Max Fraser, “Filming the Black Belt”
Feb. 9 *Submit final paper/project prospectus*
No Class *Class time will be used as Office Hours to discuss final project*
Searches & Creative Excavations
Feb. 14
Chan is Missing (Wayne Wang, 1982)
Read:
Feb. 16
The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996)
Read:
Matt Richardson, “Our Stories Have Never Been Told: Preliminary Thoughts on Black Lesbian Cultural Production as Historiography in The Watermelon Woman”
Feb. 21 *Submit paper/project draft to your peer review group before class time*
Peer Review Workshop I
Feb. 23 Peer Review Workshop II
Poetic Forms of Histories and Futures
Feb. 28 The Inheritance (Ephraim Asili, 2020)
Read:
Interviews with Ephraim Asili
Mar. 2 malni, towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka, 2020)
Read:
Almuneda Escobar López, “Ethnopoetics of Reality: The Work of Sky Hopinka”
Diana Flores Ruíz, "Desire Lines: Sky Hopinka's Undisciplining of Vision"
Mar. 7 Final Presentations I
Mar. 9 Final Presentations II and Course Wrap-Up
Final Papers & Projects Due via Canvas 5pm, March 15th
**This syllabus is subject to change. I will inform you via Canvas if I make changes to the syllabus.**