Movies to the Rescue: Keeping the Cold War Relevant for Twenty-First-Century Students

Enseñanza de Relaciones Internacionales: reflexiones sobre una experiencia con series de ficción en Argentina

“…Varios artículos también concluyen que los contenidos audiovisuales pueden ilustrar conceptos abstractos con ejemplos concretos en un formato que los estudiantes están más acostumbrados a consumir (Holland, 2014;Valeriano, 2013). Asimismo, el poder del cine les permite a los estudiantes experimentar acontecimientos históricos o dinámicas políticas de otros estados y culturas que quizá no hayan experimentado directamente (Gokcek y Howard, 2013;Schwak, 2020).…”

“…Asimismo, durante las clases sincrónicas, los estudiantes proponían nuevos cuestionamientos acerca de los contenidos de las series, disparando pertinentes discusiones. En este sentido, la experiencia confirmó las ventajas ya identificadas en la literatura sobre la incorporación de material audiovisual en los cursos académicos (Brandle, 2020;Gibert, 2016;Gokcek y Howard, 2013;Holland, 2014Holland, , 2015Schwak, 2020;Valeriano, 2013).…”

Narrative time and International Relations

“…They can provide the context of experiences that students cannot have made, for example living during the Cold War. If this is the aim, then the point is not to choose a documentary that brings the Cold War to life ‘as it really was’, but narratives that convey more abstract points, ‘images of events’ which can then also be applied to the present (Gokcek and Howard 2013 : 439–41). The same feature makes fiction also valuable for speculating about what is to come by laying out possible futures (Boaz 2020 : 243–44).…”

Games, Movies, and Zombies: Making IR Fun for Everyone

“…I also incorporated movies that were science fiction, using Scharf and Roberts (1994) and Gokcek and Howard (2013) as inspiration, so students could discuss the concepts of international relations without getting bogged down in pre-existing prejudices. Gokcek and Howard (2013) also highlighted the importance of keeping students directly engaged instead of passively viewing, so I distributed a worksheet for structuring notes prior to showing the films in class. We watched Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The High Ground" as an entry into discussing terrorism.…”