Undergraduate Education Overview, Mission, and Learning Outcomes

Courses Offered for the Upcoming Semester

Current and Past Semester Courses –

Courses

Instructors

Undergraduate Certificate

Graduation with Distinction

Documentary Studies Courses and Cross-Listed Courses

Lehman Brady Visiting Joint Chair Professor in Documentary Studies and American Studies

Student Opportunities at CDS

DOCST 89S.01 The Photographic Essay
Instructor: Bamberger
W 10:05 a.m.–12:35 a.m. (CDS, Bridges 201)
This seminar teaches the language of photography through the study of classic and contemporary photographic essays and through the completion of assigned photographic essays by the students themselves. Students will learn to make, choose, sequence, and pace their own images for class discussion and for digital projection. During the semester students will complete three assigned photographic essays of at least ten images each. Each essay will be on a particular theme or subject to be announced. Each student's final project (or fourth essay) will consist of a compilation photographic essay of at least twenty images combining work from all three assignments. 
Cross list: ARTSVIS 89S


DOCST 89S.02 Multimedia Documentary
Instructor: Sims
M 3:05 p.m.–5:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 104)
A fieldwork and production course focused on the publication of interactive web-based multimedia presentations, as pioneered by washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com, Magnum in Motion, and independent producers. Utilizing digital audio and photography, the class will work as a team to create a series of narrated slide shows around a common theme in a documentary style. Students learn current technologies and techniques for multimedia publications; basic field recording and digital audio editing techniques; digital photography and editing in Adobe Photoshop; and graphic design principles. Fieldwork and production ethics will also be examined and will be a critical part of the course. No prior experience with computer or web programming required.
Cross list: ARTSVIS 89S


DOCST 101 Traditions in Documentary Studies
Instructor: Hyde
TuTh 10:05 a.m.–11:20 a.m. (CDS, Bridges 007)
Traditions of documentary work seen through an interdisciplinary perspective, with an emphasis on twentieth-century practice. The course introduces students to a range of documentary idioms and voices, including the work of photographers, filmmakers, oral historians, folklorists, musicologists, radio documentarians, and writers, and stresses aesthetic, scholarly, and ethical considerations involved in representing other people and cultures.
Cross list: VISUALST 103A


DOCST 105S Documentary Experience: A Video Approach
Instructor: Hawkins
W 10:05 a.m.–12:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 104)
F 10:05 a.m.–12:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 007)
A documentary approach to the study of local communities through video production projects assigned by the course instructor. Working closely with local groups, students will explore issues or topics of concern to the community. Each student will complete a ten-minute edited video as a final project. Consent of instructor required.
Cross list: CULANTH 356S, AMI 331S, HISTORY 354S, POLISCI 278S, PUBPOL 378S, VMS 205S


DOCST 110S Introduction to Oral History
Instructor: Lanier
W 6:15 p.m.–8:45 p.m. (Bridges 007)
Introductory oral history fieldwork seminar. Oral history theory and methodology, including debates within the discipline. Components and problems of oral history interviewing as well as different kinds of oral history writing. 
Cross list: HISTORY 352S


DOCST 111S Documentary Writing
Instructor: Murrell
WF 10:05 a.m.–11:20 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 113)
The art and practice of independent research, reporting, and writing in the long-form documentary tradition. Students will study the work of great narrative writers, engage with issues ranging from the ethics and techniques of close observation to writing as a humane art, as well as editing, interviewing styles, and getting work published. Class structured to inspire and support a semester-long writing project that is conceived and written with an eye to publication.
Cross list: ENGLISH 318S


DOCST 115 Introduction to Photography
Instructor: Sharp 
Th 10:05 a.m.–12:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 201)
Foundation class in black-and-white photographic process as the basis for using photography as a visual language. Students learn to make a printable exposure using black-and-white film, make a “proper proof,” and make an 8-by-10 enlargement. Assignments emphasize Durham and the Duke community. A final portfolio that embodies a visual idea is required as the final in this class. Consent of instructor required: mjsharp@alumni.duke.edu
Cross list: ARTSVIS 214, VMS 214


DOCST 135S Introduction to Audio Documentary
Instructor: Biewen
W 10:05 a.m.–12:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 104)
Recording techniques and audio mixing on digital editing software for the production of audio (radio) documentaries. The course explores various approaches to audio documentary work, from the journalistic to the personal, as well as the use of fieldwork to explore issues. Students produce stories told through audio, using National Public Radio documentary-style form, with focus on a particular social concern such as class, race, or war and peace.


DOCST 153FS The U.S./Mexico Border
Instructor: Thompson
TuTh 11:45 a.m.–1 p.m. (TBA)
The border/frontera: a scar, a divide, a wall between friendly nations, a challenge for policy-makers, a line of demarcation for human rights abuses, a law enforcement nightmare, a pass-through for trade and NAFTA, a net for the poor, and the focus of this course. Study history, culture, policy, creative writing, and art about the only border dividing two nations with such disparity in wealth. Look at the issue as it relates to Mexican farmworkers and their work in U.S. fields. Think about solutions together. Learn what this all means for the future of the United States and how its citizens define themselves. Know where you stand along this deadly line in the sand.


DOCST 206S Medicine and Documentary Photography
Instructor: Moses
Th 6:15 p.m.– 8:45 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 201)
A seminar focusing on the intersection of documentary photography and the medical community. Students will complete a semester-long documentary photo project, as well as weekly journals and a five- to ten-page final essay. Part of each class will be devoted to reviewing the students’ work in progress. Consent of instructor required.
Crosslist: PUBPOL 377S, VMS 204S


DOCST 209S Digital Documentary Photo: Capturing Transience
Instructor: Post-Rust
T 11:45 a.m.– 2:15 p.m. (Smith Arts Warehouse, Multimedia Lab 228)
Using digital photography and a documentary approach, the course investigates subjects in transition, with an emphasis on changing and somewhat transient physical and social landscapes of North Carolina. The class will focus on digital darkroom techniques, understanding visual content, and digital ethics. Students will be given several short field assignments and one cohesive final project. Digital darkroom techniques include digital capture, film scanning, Photoshop, and ink-jet printing, as well as methods of dissemination in the digital age. Digital photographic impermanence as well as social transience will be discussed in unison. Students will also explore ethical issues that arise as a result of the transient nature of images in the digital age. Final projects will result in a website with audiovisual slide shows. Please email the instructor at susie@susiepostrust.com. Include your name, year, reason for interest in the class, and experience in photography.
Cross list: ARTSVIS 212S, VMS 212S


DOCST 215 Documentary Photography and the Southern Cultural Landscape
Instructor: Post-Rust
W 3:05 p.m.–5:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 201)
Emphasis on the tradition and practice of documentary photography as a way of seeing and interpreting cultural life. Includes the techniques of black-and-white photography—exposure, development, and printing—and diverse ways of representing the cultural landscape of the region through photographic imagery. Also covers the roles that objectivity, clarity, politics, memory, autobiography, and local culture play in the making and dissemination of photographs.
Cross list: ARTSVIS 216, VMS 215


DOCST 221S American Dreams/Visual Research
Instructor: Hyde
TuTh 1:25 p.m.–2:40 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 201)
A documentary and sociological approach to the idea of the American Dream, using readings, photography, films, and visual sociological research. Ideology of attainable prosperity by different groups of people; cultural and material symbols of the dream. Field-based course. Consent of instructor required.
Cross list: SOCIOL 228S, VMS 217S


DOCST 236S Color Photography
Instructor: Harris 
M 7:30 p.m.–10:00 p.m. (Smith Arts Warehouse, Multimedia Lab 228)
A field-based course about color photography as a documentary tool. Students will gain knowledge about the aesthetic and technical foundations of color photography by using recent digital technology. The class will also conduct an intensive examination of the work of historic and contemporary color documentary photographers. Utilizing the new Arts Warehouse multimedia classroom, students will learn advanced techniques in film scanning, Photoshop CS4, and color pigment printing. Students will be required to complete a semester-long color photographic project and to produce a series of color pigment prints as a final project. Consent of instructor required.
Cross list: ARTSVIS 240S, VMS 227S


DOCST 248S Documenting the Environment
Instructor: Satterwhite
Tu 3:05 p.m.–5:30 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 201)
Technical and aesthetic training in creating documentaries to communicate critical environmental issues in order to affect societal change. Exploring the history of the essential role of documentary photography in land conservation, social justice, and protection of biodiversity from the early 1800s to today, as a class, leads to individual documentary projects. Students use the Center for Documentary Studies’ state-of-the-art cameras and audio recording equipment as well as learn current methods for web and gallery exhibition. Seminar, studio, and study of photography in university archives and field trips. Consent of instructor required.
Cross list: ENVIRON 222S


DOCST 271S Video for Social Change
Instructor: Orenstein
M 11:45 a.m.–2:15 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 113)
Documentary film course focusing on the production of advocacy videos for social change. Covers methods and traditions of community organizing, introduces knowledge and skill sets needed to make effective videos for grassroots organizations, and explores how video is integrated into organizing strategies to achieve better results. Includes instructor-supervised fieldwork with community partner organization. Student groups will research, write, direct, and produce their own videos for a campaign to improve educational and economic opportunities in Durham's low-income communities.
Cross list: AMI 335S, PUBPOL 375S


DOCST 290S Documentary Biography
Instructor: Stephenson
M 3:05 p.m.–5:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 113)
Explores the process of researching and writing biography using a documentary frame. Investigates literary traditions and authors' intentions of telling nonfiction stories about an individual's life, whether the person is well-known or unsung. Study classic works of biography and the literary profile-writers who construct them. Learn and utilize methods of oral history and archival research. Practice writing a compelling narrative in literary, documentary writing that appeals to broad audiences. Final writing project to be based on fieldwork and modeled after New Yorker magazine profiles or chapters from a book-length biography.
Cross list: ENGLISH 390S


DOCST 320S Freedom Stories
Instructor: Tyson
W 11:45 a.m. – 2:15 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 113)
Documentary writing course focusing on race and storytelling in the South, using fiction, autobiography, and traditional history books. Producing narratives using documentary research, interviews, and personal memories. Focus on twentieth-century racial politics.
Cross list: AAAS 231S, HISTORY 356S


DOCST 344S Our Culinary Cultures
Instructor: Alexander
F 10:05 a.m.–12:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 113)
This course applies a documentary approach to the world of food and its inhabitants, from the men who sling eggs at Las Vegas diners to the farmers who raise North Carolina hogs. Students will employ extensive fieldwork to show the ways in which understanding what a person eats establishes his or her cultural identity. Through deep personal stories, we will examine issues in food, including how it is raised, prepared, and presented. Food-oriented research projects will reveal the key biographical, economic, religious, and other truths that connect what we eat to who we are. We will cook for each other in the kitchen lab as well.
Cross list: CULANTH 258S 


DOCST 347S Civil/Human Rights Activism in Durham: In the Spirit of Pauli Murray
Instructor: Lau
Tu 3:05 p.m.–5:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 104)
This documentary fieldwork course explores the legacy of civil and human rights activism in Durham and the American South through the life and work of noted historian, lawyer, poet, activist, and priest Pauli Murray. Students will utilize scholarship, primary source archival materials, and contemporary documentary projects to set a context for their fieldwork in Durham. By working with the instructor and local social change leaders engaged in work related to the Pauli Murray community history and reconciliation project at the Duke Human Rights Center, students will deepen fieldwork skills—photography, writing, audio, or filmmaking—and develop documentary projects in collaboration with culturally diverse community groups. Requires field trips to communities in Durham.
Cross list: CULANTH 246S, AAAS 236S


DOCST 450S Documentary Engagement
Instructor: Ogburn
M 10:05 a.m.–12:35 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 104)
Documentary photography as a tool for social engagement in preparation for intensive field-based projects. Students study documentary photographers while planning and refining their own documentary projects through which they will address societal issues locally, nationally, and abroad. Students learn valuable technical skills such as Photoshop, inkjet printing, and web-based methods in order to complete a preliminary documentary project by the end of the semester.
Cross list: PUBPOL 396S


DOCST 460S Multimedia Documentary
Instructor: Rue
Th 3:05 p.m.–5:35 p.m.
Edit and shape fieldwork material into a web-based multimedia presentation. Learn current technologies and techniques for multimedia publications. Examine unique storytelling strategies for on-line presentations and compare this medium to traditional venues for documentary work such as exhibitions, books, and broadcast.
Cross list: ARTSVIS 247S, VMS 332S


DOCST 480S Capstone Seminar
Instructor: Kalow
F 4:25 p.m.–6:55 p.m. (CDS, Bridges 113)
Immersion in fieldwork-based inquiry and in-depth projects that serve as Certificate in Documentary Studies capstone experiences for students. Methods of documentary fieldwork, including participant observation, and modes of arts and humanities interpretation through a variety of mediums (including papers, film, photography exhibits, radio pieces, and performances). Consent of instructor required. Prerequisite: DOCST 101 and four DOCST electives.