Certificate in Documentary Studies
Final Projects Presentation and Graduation Ceremony
December 7, 7 p.m.
CDS Auditorium

The Certificate in Documentary Studies Program is offered by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University in conjunction with Duke Continuing Studies.


PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

In Search of the Dulcimer in County Antrim
By Rick Davis
In his book The Hammered Dulcimer: A History (2001), Paul Gifford says that, though the hammered dulcimer has been known in Ireland since at least 1738, it has not been well-known except for a time in County Antrim and that today “the dulcimer is a forgotten instrument in Ireland, with little evidence of a revival.” Christie Burns, an American dulcimist studying ethnomusicology at University College in Cork, Ireland, decided to find out for herself how true this statement was.

Thus begins the story of Rick Davis’s long-term documentary video project on the hammered dulcimer in County Antrim. Each year since attending the Cork Dulcimer Festival in 2002, he has traveled to Northern Ireland, meeting and interviewing Irish traditional musicians and playing in pub sessions in search of the dulcimer and its players.

Rick Davis is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, recording artist, and international performer and teacher currently residing in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Musically, he sees his job as learning the tunes of the “old-timers” and passing them on. His love of history, music, and the hammered dulcimer has led him into documentary. He teaches privately and offers hammered dulcimer workshops locally and at festivals in the United States and Ireland.



The Arab League Café
By Barbara J. Michael
A filmic biography of a place, this piece explores the role of the Arab League Café in the lives of Middle Eastern men. Men’s cafés, important locales not only for socializing but also for intellectual life, are often the hubs of neighborhoods, where men gather to drink coffee or tea; smoke the waterpipe; play cards, chess, or backgammon; and gather news, gossip, or discuss politics or business deals. Located in the “town center” of Amman, Jordan, the Arab League Café is directly across from the al-Hussein mosque, also a local meeting place. Established in 1947, and still in the family of the original owner, the Arab League Café has survived through changes in nation-building as well as social life.

Barbara J. Michael, a cultural anthropologist who teaches at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, has done research, lived, or worked in many Middle Eastern countries, most recently Yemen and Jordan. She remembers an early interest in other cultures and places, but an anthropology course at the University of Kansas—and the documentary films she saw in it—led her to pursue cross-cultural studies as a career. As a professor, she sees the impact of film on her students. Michael had heard about the Center for Documentary Studies many years ago, and three years ago decided to come to North Carolina especially to pursue a Certificate in Documentary Studies and to bring her experience of documentary film in that first anthropology course full circle by learning to make her own.



Just a Guy
By Betty Campbell Hatch
Tonight’s screening is the beginning ten-minute segment of a longer film about David Rhodes, who was rendered quadriplegic when two cars, independently, both driven by drunk drivers, hit the car in which he was a passenger. He was sixteen years old at the time. From this early age, he determined what he had to do to have a full life. Along the way, we witness his indomitable spirit, his perseverance, his acceptance of himself and his fate. We are with him as he grows and we witness his victories, as he becomes a husband, a father, a lawyer, and a deputy attorney general for the State of California. This film was created in collaboration with Ray Johnson.

Betty Campbell Hatch has worked as an educator all of her professional life, most recently in the School of Communication at Elon University. Her father was a natural storyteller and she inherited his love for family lore. Determined to preserve these tales, she decided to learn more about the process and art of storytelling.



Royce
By Richard Ziglar
This audio documentary introduces listeners to Royce, a retired horticulture extension agent who previously supervised the Master Gardener program in Chapel Hill. He has been suffering from various cognitive impairments because of an HIV-related illness, and he wanted some of his memories recorded before he loses them.

Richard Ziglar is a long-time resident of Durham, North Carolina. He loves talking to strangers and wishes he could get paid for it.



Short Track: Photographs from the Asphalt Oval
By Clifton Dowell
This series of photographic prints documents the visual character of Wake County Speedway, a non-sanctioned, “outlaw” track where drivers (some too young to get a driver’s license) spend summer nights racing cars that are put together and kept rolling by friends and family. In business for nearly fifty years, the racetrack is a social microcosm where generations of families come together to make their own fun. The racing is close, loud, and contentious—a non-corporate, community-based entertainment in the vernacular of the American South.

Clifton Dowell became seriously interested in photography seven years ago when a box of black-and-white negatives from the 1940s was passed down to him. He is a member of Antfarm Studios, an artists’ collective in Raleigh, and is currently working on a project in that city’s historic Depot District with the help and fiscal sponsorship of the Southern Documentary Fund. He is employed as the general manager of the News & Observer’s Insider State Government News Service.



A MESSAGE FROM THE CDS LEARNING OUTREACH DIRECTOR

Welcome to the Center for Documentary Studies.

During the course of an average day at CDS, I talk with many people about our continuing studies certificate program. They call or email from across the country and around the globe with interest, curiosity, and plenty of questions. One of my favorite things is hearing the excitement in the voice of someone who has just discovered the program and what it offers.

In talking with perspective certificate students, two topics regularly come up. One is the diversity of our classes. Because the program welcomes everyone through an open enrollment arrangement with Duke Continuing Studies, students range widely in age, background, and experience. We are richly rewarded and challenged by those differences in our workshops, classes, institutes, and events. Interesting and productive collaborations often result, even though students might range in age from seventy-five to seventeen.

Some students arrive with conceptual projects they have contemplated for years. Others have a general interest in documentary and just want to get a taste of the process. Still others have moved to Durham, relocated their lives temporarily or sometimes permanently, to be at CDS among a community of documentary professionals, students, and enthusiasts.

I am also sure to tell prospective students that documentary work is often hard work. It can be very time-consuming and also quite rewarding. I suggest that new students take one course, if possible, before deciding whether to commit to the certificate program. Often students would like to finish the program within a year, and find that a challenge. Most people take at least two years to complete the coursework and final project, though some students take much longer.

All of our courses require the completion of weekly assignments. Overall the program is designed to give students the necessary tools to complete one substantial project—work above and beyond the professional jobs that most students do by day, and usually involving the courageous activity of sharing work in progress. In the best situation, classes develop an inspired energy that brings out the best in everyone. Tonight’s graduates will share their final projects, the culmination of their certificate work, with us. Please join me in celebrating their achievement.

If you are interested in learning more about our classes or other ways you can be a part of CDS, please be in touch with us. I encourage you to keep an eye on our website for upcoming events, sign up for our mailing list, and join our Friends of CDS group (at http://cds.aas.duke.edu/donate/index.html).

In addition to congratulating our graduates I would also like to thank our colleagues at Duke Continuing Studies, including Garry Crites, director of Short Courses; Katie Strobush, program assistant; and the registration team. We appreciate their contributions and value their partnership in our program.

—April Walton, CDS Learning Outreach Director

banner image:

Professor Alex Harris during a slide lecture accompanying the fall 2003 exhibition, Walker Evans at 100. Photograph by Christopher Sims.






Center for Documentary Studies
1317 W. Pettigrew Street
Durham, NC 27705

telephone: (919) 660-3663
fax: (919) 681-7600
email: docstudies@duke.edu

See: directions to the Center for Documentary Studies

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