Undergraduate / film studies
Course Description
Global South Cinema offers an introduction to the world of films produced in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In addition, the course explores foundational approaches to the study of film and its narrative conventions. Throughout the semester, we will query the formal elements and specificities of film medium. Why has film often been considered the total work of art? What are the critical affordances of film and film theory? What are the production techniques and representational strategies that set film apart from other cultural forms? How has film intersected with projects of nation-building and national identity across the Global South?
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- demonstrate a familiarity with the critical language of film studies
- understand the main developments in Global South cinema from the 1950s to the present
- effectively express ideas concerning the specificity of film medium
- understand how cultural production in general and cinema in particular provide a vehicle to reflect on the intersection of different national, regional, and global communities
- participate in upper-level coursework in film theory and cultural aesthetics
required materials
Available from TTU Bookstore and/or TTU Libraries.
- Jill Nelmes, ed. Introduction to Film Studies, 5th edition. Essential.
- Scott MacKenzie, ed. Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures. Suggested.
All other readings available through Canvas.
core curriculum and uniform graduation requirements
The Core Curriculum and Uniform Graduation Requirements are designed to give every Texas Tech student a strong academic foundation while preparing them for success beyond graduation. These requirements ensure that all students develop critical skills in communication, problem-solving, and ethical reasoning, while also gaining a broad understanding of the world through study in the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
foundational component area
Language, Philosophy, and Culture. Courses in this category focus on how ideas, values, beliefs, and other aspects of culture reflect and affect human experience. Courses involve the exploration of ideas that foster aesthetic and intellectual creation in order to understand the human condition across cultures.
Objectives:
- Critical Thinking Skills. To include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information.
- Communication Skills. To include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication.
- Personal Responsibility. To include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.
- Social Responsibility. To include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national and global communities.
Course Guidelines and Grading
Lecture recording is prohibited. Students are not allowed to record, either digitally or through audiotape, lectures or any other academic session in this course.
Attendance: Responsibility for class attendance rests with the student. Students are expected to attend all classes. The university expects regular and punctual attendance at all scheduled classes, and the university reserves the right to deal at any time with individual cases of nonattendance. For more information visit: Attendance and Class Absence Policies
In-class Writing Exercises: 35% (14 total, 2.5% each)
At the end of each session students will submit a short, hand-written reflection responding to a prompt. Writing exercises will be graded as complete/incomplete. No makeups allowed. If you wish to discuss your weekly reflection, you should mark the option in the worksheet, and the professor will reach out via email to schedule an appointment during office hours.
Midterm Exam: 30%
To include multiple choice, matching, short answer, and essay questions. Based on assigned readings and lectures.
Final Exam: 35%
Finals week. Non-cumulative. To include multiple choice, matching, short answer, and essay questions. Based on assigned readings and lectures.
Grade Scale
| A | 93-100 | C | 73-76 |
| A- | 90-92 | C- | 70-72 |
| B+ | 87-89 | D+ | 67-69 |
| B | 83-86 | D | 63-66 |
| B- | 80-82 | D- | 60-62 |
| C+ | 77-79 | F | 59 or below |
Assignments and grading policies are subject to change.
course syllabus statements
AI Use Not Permitted
To support your development and independent demonstration of the course learning outcomes, generative AI use in this course is not permitted. Do not use generative AI tools or features to create, solve, summarize, translate, revise, or substantially transform work submitted for credit. Basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation features, approved assistive technologies, and approved disability accommodations are permitted unless they generate or substantially rewrite content or replace the skill being assessed. Ask before using an AI tool if you are unsure whether it is permitted. Use of generative AI outside these boundaries may be considered a violation of Texas Tech University’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Course Calendar
August 25: The Practice of Film Studies
Optional reading: Patrick Philips, “Before Getting to the Bigger Picture.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 60-78.
September 1: Form and Narrative
Required reading: Suzanne Speidel, “Film Form and Narrative.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 79-112.
Assigned film: Tótem, dir. Lila Avilés (Mexico, 2023)
September 8: Spectatorship
Required reading: Patrick Philips, “Spectator, Audience and Response.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 113-141.
Assigned film: Wild Tales, dir. Damián Szifron (Argentina, 2014)
September 15: What is a Documentary?
Required reading: Paul Ward, “The Documentary Form.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 209-228.
Assigned film: The Pearl Button, dir. Patricio Guzmán (Chile, 2015)
September 22: Indian Cinema
Required reading: Lalitha Gopalan, “Indian Cinema.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 400-425.
Film: Monsoon Wedding, dir. Mira Nair (India, 2001)
September 29: Auteur Theory
Required reading: Paul Watson, “Cinematic Authorship and the Film Auteur.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 142-165.
Film: Taste of Cherry, dir. Abbas Kiarostami (Iran, 1997)
October 6: Genre
Required reading: Paul Watson, “Approaches to Film Genre – Taxonomy/Genericity/Metaphor.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 188-208.
Film: Cronos, dir. Guillermo del Toro (Mexico, 1993)
October 13: MIDTERM EXAM
October 20: New Wave Cinema
Required reading: Red Sorghum reviewed by Zhang Jia-Xuan
Film: Red Sorghum, dir. Zhang Yimou (China, 1988)
October 27: Vaudeville, Pantomime, Colonialism
Required reading: Med Hondo, “What is the Cinema for Us?” Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures, pp. 300-303 and Clarence Tsui, “A Cinema on the Run”
Film: West Indies, the Fugitive Slaves of Liberty, dir. Med Hondo (Algeria, Mauritania, France, 1979)
November 3: Forgotten Voices
Required reading: Valérie K. Orlando, “From Revolution to the Coming of Age of African Cinema,” in New African Cinema, pp. 39-81.
Film: Sambizanga, dir. Sarah Maldoror (Angola, 1972)
November 10: The God of Thunder
Required reading: Françoise Pfaff, “Background to the Cinema of Ousmane Sembene”
Film: Emitaï, dir. Ousmane Sembene (Senegal, 1971)
November 17: Development and Underdevelopment
Required reading: Linda Craig, “Latin American Cinema.” Intro to Film Studies, pp. 426-444.
Film: Memories of Underdevelopment, dir. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Cuba, 1968)
November 24: Third Cinema
Required reading: Glauber Rocha, “The Aesthetics of Hunger,” and Fernando Solanas & Octavio Getino, “Towards a Third Cinema,” Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures, pp. 218-220; 230-250.
Film: The Priest and the Girl, dir. Joachim Pedro de Andrade (Brazil, 1966)
December 1: The Raw Material of the Cinema is Life Itself
Required reading: Satyajit Ray, “What is Wrong with Indian Films?” Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures, pp. 117-120.
Film: Pather Panchali, dir. Satyajit Ray (India, 1955)
December 7: FINAL EXAM