Graduate Documentary Seminars
Spring 2014 – for all students in the Social Sciences and Humanities
GWSS 510/AIS 501 — Documentary Research Methods for the Social Sciences and Humanities (5 credits)
T,Th – 2:30-4:20
This seminar will explore some of the major theoretical, methodological, and aesthetic issues when researching and planning documentary media projects for the social sciences and humanities. The course utilizes readings, screenings, and discussion as students develop a documentary research project that can be produced in subsequent quarters. This seminar is grounded in issues of indigenous methodologies and ethical ethnographic practice, and explores topics such as: representation and portraiture; documentary ethics, collaboration and reciprocity; auto-ethnography and digital storytelling methodologies; ethics of the archive, fair use and media historiography; oral traditions and media interviewing; documentary technique and aesthetics. Enrollment will be limited to 12 students.
AIS 503 — Documentary Theory, Form, and Practice (5 credits)
T, Th – 10:30-12:20.
This seminar
will explore documentary aesthetics and practice, utilizing readings, screenings, and various hands-on documentary projects. Students create short sequences, while investigating traditional and more experimental ideas about documentary including: theories of representation, collaboration and ethics, documentary authenticity and truth claims, the intersection of fiction and non-fiction forms, documentary and performance, documentary and historiography. The course is designed for graduate students in the social sciences and humanities who are investigating the uses of representational media as an intrinsic part of their programs and research. Enrollment will be limited to 12 students.
