When we become immersed in the stories of others, our own lives change, for better or worse, for a few seconds or for years. How do storytellers use the potential for empathy to affect readers or viewers? What are the ethical implications of these uses? Participants will explore these questions by considering, for example:
virtual reality: becoming "the other"
trauma and the ethics of empathy
the boundaries of empathy: nonhuman animals, human narratives
identifying with the villain
visual narratives, empathy, and distance
We will approach these and other questions primarily through discussions of modern Iberian narratives, although a variety of periods and Hispanophone regions may also be represented, depending on participants' interests.