The name of the optional course 'Cuestiones de Historia Contemporánea' is deliberately generic. Each year, each professor chooses a particular topic, related to Contemporary History. The academic year 2023-2024 the title of the course in English is 'History and Cinema: Basque nationalism and political violence'. Its objective is to study the cinematic representation of History, focusing on the 'screened history' of Basque nationalism in general and ETA in particular.

1. Critical reasoning.

2. Capacity for analysis and synthesis.

3. Interdisciplinary teamwork.

4. To develop an understanding of the relationships among historical facts and issues.

Cinema and History: historiography and methodological approach.

Fiction and documentary films: 'the challenge of film to our idea of History'.

A brief History of Basque Nationalism and political violence in the Basque Country.

Screening and commentary of films about Basque national identity, history of the Basque Nationalist Party, the Civil War in the Basque Country, the bombing of Gernika, Basque exile and Franco's dictatorship, ETA's terrorism and its victims, the 'dirty war' against terrorism, and the memory of the victims.

The core of the course focuses on the analysis of films related to Basque History and ETA's terrorism. They will be screened in class and afterwards there will be a practical exercise, commentary and debate about the film.

The course will be based on methodology habitually used in contemporary history.

• Continuous Assessment System
• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Written test to be taken (%): 30
  • Realization of Practical Work (exercises, cases or problems) (%): 70

As for the ordinary call the final written test (30%) will be substituted by a essay following the instructions of the professor. This essay should be presented in the classroom. The rest of the grade (70%) will be made up of attendance, participation in class discussions, and practical exercises.

In case of a new pandemic, a war or other natural or human disasters, the course will be adapted to the circumstances and there will be an online final exam.

The grading system will be similar to the ordinary call but the written essay will be done exclusively the day of the exam.

They will be provided by the professor through E-Gela website.

Basic bibliography

Cinema and History

Ferro, M.: Cinema and History; Detroit, Wayne State Univesity Press, 1988.

Grindon, L.: Shadows on the Past, Filadelfia, Temple University Press, 1994.

Mico, T. et al.: Past Imperfect: History According the Movies, Nueva York, Henry Holt, 1995.

Monaco, P.: Cinema and Society, Elsevier, New York, 1976.

O'Connor, J. E. (ed.): Image as Artifact: The Historical Analysis of Film and Television, Krieger, Malabar, 1990.

Rosenstone, R. A.: Visions of the Past: The Challenge of Film to Our Idea of History, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1995.

Rosenstone, R.: Revisioning History. Filmmakers and the Construction of a New Past, Princeton University Press, 1994.



Basque History (and Cinema)

De Pablo, S.: The Basque Nation On-Screen. Cinema, Nationalism, and Political Violence, Reno, Center for Basque Studies, 2012.

Leonisio, R. et al. (ed.), ETA's Terrorist Campaign: from Violence to Politics, 1968-2015, London, Routledge, 2017.

Mees, L.: The Basque Contention: Ethnicity, Politics, Violence, London, Routledge, 2019.

Mees, L.: Nationalism, Violence and Democracy: the Basque Clash of Identities, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Stone, R. y Rodríguez, M. P.: Basque Cinema: a Cultural and Political History, London/New York, I.B. Tauris, 2015.

Sullivan, J.: ETA and basque Nationalism: the Fight for Euskadi, 1890-1986, London/New York, Routledge, 2015.

In-depth bibliography

It will be provided by the professor for each part of the syllabus.

Journals

Film-Historia Online
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
Film & History
Film Quarterly
Secuencias: Revista de Historia del Cine
Sancho el Sabio
Historia Contemporánea

Web addresses

http://www.filmotecavasca.com
https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/filmhistoria
https://cinehistoria.com/
https://www.bfi.org.uk/
www.sanchoelsabio.eus