I want yoy to write me 4-5 solid paragraphs for each question, and support each quwstion with the ources listed.
1. Torture still a practice in domestic and international prisons, but we don’t always see evidence of it like we did in the Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo prison cases. Do you think the practice of torturing people in the context of the on-going US “Global War on Terror” should be allowed or not? Why or why not? PLEASE draw from specific class materials (readings, lectures, films) to support your position. Additionally, here are two recent short articles/posts about the US and current torture and detention issues/concerns:
https://time.com/5779579/cia-torture-secrecy/
https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/09/20-years-us-torture-and-counting
Sources to use for this question:
Never Ending War on Terror (University of California Press, 2021) by Alex Lubin. (Chapter 3. Liberal Torture+A Conclusion Without an Ending). – The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib (2007, 82 minutes), directed by Rory Kennedy. https://youtu.be/1ucVvqOVwZI?si=haMf13JTrcGjQ6_9 – US/UK’s Special Relationship: The Culture of Torture, in Abu-Ghraib and Lynching Photographs” by Hazel Carby. – The Mauritanian (2021, 2 hours, 9 minutes) directed by Kevin Macdonald. https://digitalcampus.swankmp.net/minnesotatc334595/watch/3B0C1CCB125F6BC5?referrer=direct
Choose between Question #2 or #3.
2. Drawing from the documentary Exodus (2016) (directed by James Bluemel), as well as Bruce Bennett’s essay “Becoming Refugees: Exodus and Contemporary Mediations of the Refugee Crisis” (2018), how does the inclusion of iPhone filmmaking in Exodus contribute to the film’s overall storytelling? How does the inclusion of iPhone filmmaking disrupt (or not) conventional documentaries? Does the documentary Exodus humanize (or not) displaced people/refugees? Why or why not? For maximum credit, please draw from both Exodus and the Bennett article. Students will receive higher grades if you discuss specific people, scenes, dialogues/narratives, and images from Exodus in your response.
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3. Drawing from the fictional film Welcome (2009) (directed by Philippine Lioret), as well as by Ipek A. Celik Rappasand Philip E. Phillis’s essay, “‘Do the Right Thing:’ Encounters with Undocumented Migrants in Contemporary European Cinema,” do you agree with Rappas and Phillis’s argument that Welcome utilize[s] the Otherin-need as an avatar in order to construct a compassionate European identity?” Why or why not? What are the implications of these “cultural politics?” Do you see any parallels between the US and Europe and issues of “Othering” and the kind of US American identity or identities that gets constructed through media (including journalistic accounts and films.) What are the parallels (or differences) and how/why are these parallels or differences significant? For maximum credit, please draw from both Welcome and the Rappas and Phillis article. Students will receive higher grades if you discuss specific people, scenes, dialogues/narratives, and images from Welcome in your response.
Question #4 is mandatory.
4. How and why has this class impacted your understanding and knowledge of 9/11 and post-9/11 US politics and social relations in the US and outside of the US? Where have you experienced personal/intellectual/political/cultural growth–in relation to this class and the issues we’ve focused on? How/why did this growth come about and how do you feel about the changes in you? Do you think 9/11 and the US Global War on Terror continues to have an impact on/in the US and around the world? Why or why not? PLEASE discuss specific course materials (readings, films, lectures, discussions.)
Note: answer this question based on the course material attached in the sylabus beloww but mainly focus on the modules in the last half of the course.
