UF Center for Latin American Studies
Days: Wednesdays
Times: 8:30am- 11:30am
Location: Matherly 0004
Course description
This class is about the stories we tell that concern the lives of others, and sometimes, ourselves. There are various methods that are employed for telling these stories, whether through creative nonfiction, documentary and narrative filmmaking, and creative or experimental ethnographies. Students will review and explore each methodology in order to grasp how Latin American stories are told, what each method offers the author and audience, and what may be the challenges involved in landing the intended message. Although this course, covering ethnographic storytelling, subjectivity, and the visual in Latin America, deals with the questions surrounding “how” a subject is portrayed; it is not a strict methods course. We instead explore various methods in order to uncover thematic pervasive problems in Latin American studies: violence, power, history, and identity (to name the most important ones). And it should be noted that the course interrogates these four themes through creative lenses.
Students will gain an understanding of visual anthropology, documentary film, film and media theory, ethnography, sociopolitical history in Latin America, political economy, political ecology, systemic violence, sexuality, indigeneity and race, and questions of identity and belonging. Of particular interest will be – within the postcolonial and interdisciplinary world of Latin American studies – a critical look at the intersection of everyday life and the dynamics of power that help to inform the possibilities for being human.
Clate Korsant
Assistant Director of Academic Affairs
Center for Latin American Studies
Department of Anthropology
319F Grinter Hall
Gainesville, FL 32611-5530
E-mail: ckorsant@latam.ufl.edu
Phone: 352-273-4704
Research Interests
Environmental and Cultural Anthropology; Visual Anthropology; Documentary Film and Photography; Political Ecology; Conflict; History and Power; Social, Political, Economic Justice; Ethnographic Practice and Writing; Urban Anthropology and the United States; Eco-Pedagogy; the Politics of Environmentalism
Geographic Expertise
Central America; Costa Rica
