Becoming “Arturo Ripstein”? On collaboration and the “author function” in the transnational film adaptation of El lugar sin límites

The article sets out a detailed case study of Mexican director Arturo Ripstein’s film adaptation of Chilean writer José Donoso’s 1966 short novel El lugar sin límites (‘The Place without Limits’, aka ‘Hell Has No Limits’), which featured a significant, though uncredited, contribution from the exiled Argentine author Manuel Puig. Non-mainstream and oppositional filmmakers and critics in Latin America — for example, Grupo Cine Liberación with their late 1960s formulation of ‘Second Cinema’ in ‘Hacia un tercer cine’/’Towards a Third Cinema’ (Solanas and Getino) — have often attacked, as ‘ideologically limited’, ‘ extranjerizante’ or ‘Eurocentric,’ and ‘literary’ or ‘individualistic,’ the kind of film auteurism in which Ripstein has engaged over four decades. Despite these and other similar attacks, it seems clear that this model of film production (along with Ripstein’s ‘brand’ of it) has been particularly resilient in the face of the political, economic and cultural vicissitudes of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s in a number of countries in the continent. Few sustained studies of auteurism as an internationally successful mode of production in Latin America exist, however. In this article, then, rather than focusing solely on the similarities and differences between the homonymous film and literary texts (the p rincipal critical activity in which studies of the adaptation process engage [Grant 2002]), I propose to use the transnational story of the adaptation of El lugar sin límites — as told from the point of view of its diverse ‘authors’ (Donoso, Puig and Ripstein) — to explore some questions concerning collaborative authorship across film and literary culture in Latin America after the end of the period of the literary ‘Boom’. I focus on the differences in the accounts that I reproduce here not in order to discover, or distil, a ‘true story’, but instead to show, and to work with, the diversity of authorial discourse about the adaptation of Donoso’s novel. While this particular case of transnational auteurist adaptation is a compelling anecdote in its own right, my examination of it will move beyond the biographical. As my title suggests, the discussion here is underwritten throughout by an interest in Michel Foucault’s concept of the ‘author function.

Interplay: (Re)finding and (Re)framing cinematic experience, film space, and the child's world

Video (also online here: https://vimeo.com/133572645) plus research statement

Deja-viewing

No description supplie

Film studies in the groove? Rhythmising perception in Carnal Locomotive

VIDEO (also online at https://vimeo.com/119051190) and accompanying research statement

Educational Technology Topic Guide

This guide aims to contribute to what we know about the relationship between educational technology (edtech) and educational outcomes by addressing the following overarching question: What is the evidence that the use of edtech, by teachers or students, impacts teaching and learning practices, or learning outcomes? It also offers recommendations to support advisors to strengthen the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes that use edtech. We define edtech as the use of digital or electronic technologies and materials to support teaching and learning. Recognising that technology alone does not enhance learning, evaluations must also consider how programmes are designed and implemented, how teachers are supported, how communities are developed and how outcomes are measured (see http://tel.ac.uk/about-3/, 2014). Effective edtech programmes are characterised by: a clear and specific curriculum focus the use of relevant curriculum materials a focus on teacher development and pedagogy evaluation mechanisms that go beyond outputs. These findings come from a wide range of technology use including: interactive radio instruction (IRI) classroom audio or video resources accessed via teachers’ mobile phones student tablets and eReaders computer-assisted learning (CAL) to supplement classroom teaching. However, there are also examples of large-scale investment in edtech – particularly computers for student use – that produce limited educational outcomes. We need to know more about: how to support teachers to develop appropriate, relevant practices using edtech how such practices are enacted in schools, and what factors contribute to or mitigate against successful outcomes. Recommendations: 1. Edtech programmes should focus on enabling educational change, not delivering technology. In doing so, programmes should provide adequate support for teachers and aim to capture changes in teaching practice and learning outcomes in evaluation. 2. Advisors should support proposals that further develop successful practices or that address gaps in evidence and understanding. 3. Advisors should discourage proposals that have an emphasis on technology over education, weak programmatic support or poor evaluation. 4. In design and evaluation, value-for-money metrics and cost-effectiveness analyses should be carried out

Anthropology and Health

This report focuses on providing global examples of how anthropological evidence and insights on health-related matters have been utilised in programmes and innovations. It also considers lessons learned and has a section focusing on socially conservative settings. Section 2 focuses on providing examples of how anthropology has been used, particularly focusing on the Ebola epidemic with a specific example of safe burials in this context. Section 3 which provides evidence on lessons learned from using anthropology in health settings and how to improve future programmes. Lastly section 4 concentrates on examples from socially conservative settings including an example of cholera transmission in the Horn of Africa, birth registration in Angola and polio vaccination in Somalia. This report is one of four related queries on behaviour change communication, behavioural economics, anthropology and health

Basic education and employment

This review provides a summary of existing research on: What are the different employment outcomes and cost effectiveness differences between public vs. private basic education (primary and lower secondary) in low and middle income countries and what accounts for any difference (disaggregated by gender as appropriate)? Do either private or public education systems focus more greatly on providing students with foundation skills (literacy and numeracy skills) and does this have an impact on employment outcomes? What is the relative value for money of basic child education (primary and lower secondary) vs. programmes focusing on providing foundation skills e.g. to out of school youth, if the main benefit measure is higher skilled/waged employment? This report is not a systematic review, but aims to capture a substantial portion of the literature offering evidence on this topic, including the most important and useful papers to guide policy-making. It provides an annotated bibliography of the literature, followed by an evidence summary table assessing the literature according to DFID’s ‘strength of evidence’ guideline

Disaster Preparedness to Reduce Anxiety and Post-Disaster Stress

This report focuses on disaster mental health preparedness, which is a significant reduction method to protect individuals from detrimental psychological effects arising from disasters. Disasters are stressful events not only for individuals who suffer from personal loss but also for the community at large (Khankeh et al., 2011). During the past two decades, natural hazards have affected more than 3 million families around the world (Roudini et al., 2017). The research of Clay et al. (2014) demonstrated a positive connection between disaster preparedness and mental health, and probability of a mental disorder following disasters is due to an absence of preparedness. Disaster mental health preparedness is focused on in the literature and there are many examples of this. The first section of this report focuses specifically on disaster mental health preparedness. The second section focuses on the available evidence looking at the impact of interventions. The literature suggests that more research and evaluation is required to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of mental health interventions to reduce the impact of disasters. Mental health experts have limitations, especially in relation to insufficient knowledge, and practices concerning mental health preparedness. The third section looks at people with pre-existing disabilities, including mental health conditions. People with disabilities suffer disproportionately and are at greater risk of suffering decreased mental health during disasters, which could perpetuate a cycle of poverty and isolation that is heightened during disasters (IASC, 2007)