INTERDISCIPLINARITY IN FILM, LITERATURE AND CULTURAL STUDIES CAPES/FIPSE Partner institutions: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Anelise R. Corseuil corseuil@cce.ufsc.br Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Sandra Regina Goulart Almeida srga@ufmg.br Wayne State University Renata Wasserman aa0902@wayne.edu Arthur Marotti aa1750@wayne.edu New York University Eugene Murphy Eugene.murphy@nyu.edu
CONTEXT The project Interdisciplinarity in Film, Literature and Cultural Studies: UFSC, UFMG, WSU, and NYU arose out of the common interests of its coordinators in the interfaces among the areas of Film Studies, Comparative Literature, Literary Theory, and Cultural Studies. The project made it possible to establish a fruitful exchange of ideas and knowledges among faculty and students in the four member institutions, assisting in the establishment of a Graduate course in Film Studies at UFSC and the consolidation of the area of academic writing at UFMG, as well as providing stimuli to development in the areas of literary and cultural studies at UFSC and UFMG, as well as the impulse toward the development of a program in Global Composition at WSU.
Objectives Proposed and Achieved In a context of global change, local and national, the project sought to stimulate international cooperation in the areas of Literature, Film and Cultural Studies in the Departments of Foreign Literatures and Languages at UFSC and UFMG, the English Department at Wayne State University, and the Department of film and Television at New York University, seeking to implement various interdisciplinary practices in these areas through a revaluation of the curricular structure at the undergraduate level and the exchange of knowledge among students and faculty and the graduate and undergraduate levels of these same department.
Involved Faculty and Students and Curriculum Development Curriculum Development was possible by the exchange of students and faculty within the four universities involved in this Program. Between 2003 and 2006 40 Brazilian and 32 American students participated in the program. In 2004, Prof. Robert Stam, from NYU, helped to revise the curriculum of the new Undergraduate Film Program at UFSC, with an initial enrollment of 30 students. The Film Programs at UFSC and at NYU have a similar profile in their emphasis on Film Theory and Film Criticism. The establishment of the Undergraduate Film Program at UFSC was greatly aided in its planning stages by the input of Professor Robert Stam of NYU, visiting under the auspices of the exchange program. The Department of English at WSU also offers several courses in the area of Film Theory in similar terms to UFSC. Courses such as:
-Introduction to Film Studies (WSU and NYU) At UFSC Linguagem Cinematográfica (CMA) Introdução à linguagem audiovisual. Elementos de história do cinema. Elementos da linguagem cinematográfica: planos, ângulos, enquadramento, composição, movimento de câmera, som, cor. Sintaxe cinematográfica. Introdução à análise fílmica. -Film Narrative -Film Genre -History and Film There are differences in relation to the subjects taught within these courses at UFSC, NYU and WSU due to regional and national specificities; however, the similarities allow the easy transference of the courses taken by the students. Furthermore, the new LETRAS curriculum at UFSC is now offering four new courses in the area of Cultural Studies, Literature and Film Studies, which are: LLE 7425 Estudos Culturais EMENTA Análise crítica da produção literária, teatral, cinematográfica e televisiva de países de língua inglesa, utilizando fundamentos teóricos dos Estudos Culturais. BIBLIOGRAFIA BÁSICA Barker, C. (2004) Cultural Studies: theory and practice. Sage Publications. Garwood, C. et al (1992) Aspects of Britain and the USA. Oxford: Oxford. Harvey, P. & R. Jones (1992) Britain Explored. Essex: Longman. Fiedler, E. et al (1990) America in Close-up. Essex: Longman. McRobbie, A. (2005) The uses of cultural studies: a textbook. Sage Publications.
Shohat, E; Stam, R. (1994).Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. Routledge. Stam, R.; Miller, T. (1999) A companion to film theory (Blackwell Companions in Cultural Studies). Blackwell LLE 7426 Produção Cultural de Língua Inglesa EMENTA Análise crítica da produção cultural em países de língua inglesa, exceto a Grã-Bretanha e os Estados Unidos da América, focalizando ficção, poesia, drama e cinema. The two other courses are non-elective - Film Genres and Hollywood Industry - Classical Hollywood Narative Literature and Film is another course which is regularly taught at UFSC and at UFMG for Letras students. The support received by FIPSE to promote faculty exchange allowed the following American faculty to teach intensive mini-courses at the Brazilian partneruniversities. These mini-courses have also supported curriculum development: Professors Anna McCarthy and Robert Stam, both from NYU, offered two intensive two-credit mini-courses at UFSC an UFMG respectively, in the area of Cinema Studies (August 2004). Professors Robert Burgoyne (Cinema Studies, WSU), William Harris (Creative Writing and African American Literature, WSU) and Richard Grusin (Cultural Studies, WSU) offered one intensive 2-credit course each at UFSC and UFMG (August 2005). Professor Renata Wasserman (Comparative Literature, WSU) offered a one-credit mini-course at UFSC (August
2006). Students and faculty at UFSC and UFMG enrolled in those courses, which they found very useful. In addition, all the faculty who offered mini-courses at one of the partner universities also visited the other where they presented talks about current work. Professors Renata Wasserman and Richard Marback (WSU) organized a course in academic writing at UFMG in August 2006, for graduate and undergraduate students, as part of the initial implementation of a Global Composition program at WSU. Three graduate students from WSU participated in the program and developed their own research programs based on their stay in Brazil. As part of the program, WSU invited the following Brazilian faculty, with CAPES support, to participate in a conference on US/Brazil scholarly exchange in October of 2005 with the participation of the following Brazilian faculty: Maria Lúlia Milleo Martins, (UFSC), Julio Jeha (UFMG), Sandra Regina G. Almeida (UFMG), and Anelise R. Corseuil. The conference was held at the English Department at WSU, included talks by WSU faculty: Arthur Marotti, Renata Wasserman, and Richard Grusin, and was attended by faculty, graduate and undergraduate students.
Final comments on Curriculum development The Literature courses at the participating Brazilian universities have expanded their programs into new areas in Comparative Studies, Film Studies and Creative Writing. At UFSC two new courses were established, in Comparative Studies, and Film and Literature in response to student demand and continued specialization of the faculty. At UFMG the exchange program stimulated plans to implement an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in Film, and contributed to the creation of new course in literature and film, academic composition and creative writing at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Benefits to Participating Students The Brazilian students selected for the exchange program attended courses at the host universities in Film Studies; Composition; Creative Writing, and English, American, and Comparative Literature. All credits were transferred to the Brazilian Universities. The students had the opportunity to take courses in their areas of interest and specialization, consolidate their proficiency in English, and experience a different cultural environment. Several students decided to continue their studies in graduate programs at their home universities or abroad. The American students selected for the exchange program took courses in a variety of areas, on the graduate as well as the undergraduate level. Many chose courses in Film Studies at UFSC or Literary Studies at UFMG, learning about literature and film from a Brazilian perspective. All their credits were transferred to their home universities. The students reported having had productive and enriching cultural experiences. Upon returning, several students chose Portuguese to fulfill one of WSU s graduation language requirements.
The program created opportunities for students to study in established programs in Film and Literature at WSU and NYU, with courses in theory as well as in film production and writing, such as film photography, screenplay writing, as well as Composition and Creative Writing. They returned to their home universities with a unique experience in the combination of theory and practice in cultural production. We believe that this was a big step in the direction of integrating and standardizing instruction in various courses in the areas of film in the participating universities. At the same time, American students attended courses in Film at UFSC and in Comparative Studies at UFMG, gaining experience in film, literary, and cultural studies from a Brazilian perspective. One immediate result of the contacts among faculty in the participating universities as the extensive consulting process by NYU Film faculty in the establishment of the Graduate Program in Film at UFSC, which started out in March of 2005 and which now, in its third semester, has an enrollment of 60 students, one of the programs in highest demand at the university.
A significant percentage of the Brazilian undergraduate students who participated in the exchange have been admitted to graduate programs in literature, film and cultural studies. One of the results of the exchange program has been the expansion and improvement of the graduate programs at both Brazilian partner universities, as well as the preparation of, and incentive to students leading them to a continuation of their academic careers.