Block 1 Featured Course / Department: History / Professor: Dr. Danielle Sanchez
This course focuses on the history of anti-colonial revolutions. Students will watch Star Wars films, engage with anti-colonial theorists and intellectuals like Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, and Amilcar Cabral, and analyze the philosophies and politics of resistance movements in both the Star Wars Universe and conflicts like the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, the Congo Crisis, the Algerian War, and the struggle for independence in Lusophone Africa. By engaging with a range of works by historians, film studies scholars, journalists, and political scientists, students will develop critical thinking and writing skills, understandings of epistemological and methodological cultures, and an appreciation for the practice of scholarly inquiry in a liberal arts environment.
From Dr. Sanchez
I decided to teach The Empires Strike Back: From Anti-Colonial Resistance to Star Wars a few years ago while watching the original trilogy for the 1,000th time with my kids. As we watched the Battle of Endor progress on screen, I started thinking about possible connections between the plight of the ewoks and guerrilla warfare in the fight for independence in Cabo Verde and Guinea-Bissau. The connection that I made between ewoks, Endor, and the PAIGC (African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde) kicked off a chain of events that led to an entire syllabus and multiple articles that I wrote for Historifans, a website that I created that focuses on the intersections of contemporary popular culture and historical research.
I am teaching The Empires Strike Back for the third time this fall and cannot wait for the first-year students in my course to think about anti-colonial theories and analyze the popular media that we consume on a daily basis. My favorite part of the course is the final project: a proposal for a series of three sequel films. The sequels must be theoretically and historically influenced by the readings from the course. My students from last year created a range of brilliant proposals, including a revolt led by a non-binary droid, interplanetary slave insurrections, and much more. I am excited to see what my students come up with this year.
Reading List
- Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Grove Press, 2004).
- Nancy Jacobs, African History through Sources (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
- Daniel Wallace and Annie Stoll, Star Wars Rebels: Sabine My Rebel Sketchbook (Studio Fun International, 2015).
- Charles Soule, Darth Vader, issue 6 (Marvel Comics, 2017). Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism (Monthly Review Press, 2001).
- Danielle Sanchez, “Droid Rights and the Lumpenproletar-E8,” Historifans, July 28, 2022.
- Danielle Sanchez, “‘If a Planet Is Not in Our Records It Does Not Exist’: Star Wars, Pedagogy, and Archives,” Historifans, August 15, 2022.
- Nelson Mandela, “I am Prepared to Die.”
Films/Episodes
- Camp du Thiaroye. 1988.
- Clone Wars, season 4, episodes 1-3. 2012.
- Clone Wars, season 7, episode 5. 2020.
- The Battle of Algiers. 1967.
- Rogue One. 2016.
- A Luta Continua. 1973.
- Rebels, “Art Attack.” 2014.
- Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. 1977.
- Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. 1980.
- Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. 1983.
- The Mandalorian, season 2, episode 1. 2020.
- The Mandalorian, season 1, episode 4. 2019.