Courses

The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) offers courses through three main programs: undergraduate education; a Master of Fine Arts in Experimental and Documentary Arts; and continuing education (currently paused). Courses include instruction in photography, audio, film/video, narrative writing and new media along with an examination of documentary traditions, practices and ethics.

Documentary work is creative and artistic, driven by personal motivations and talents; it is also a public process of engagement and a powerful tool for communication and for fostering understanding and change. In its approach to education, CDS emphasizes documentary fieldwork, collaborative partnerships and a balance between individual artistic expression and community goals.

To see courses offered during a specific semester, please visit DukeHub and select Class Search. An at-a-glance list of current and upcoming courses is also available.

Select from the following menus to filter the table.
Number Title Codes
DOCST 80S Studies in Special Topics
DOCST 89S First Year Seminar
DOCST 101 Traditions in Documentary Studies CCI, ALP
DOCST 101D Traditions in Documentary Studies CCI, ALP
DOCST 105S The Documentary Experience: A Video Approach R, ALP, SS
DOCST 106FS Documenting the Middle East: Community and Oral History CCI, R, ALP, CZ
DOCST 107 History of Documentary Film CCI, ALP
DOCST 107A History of Documentary Film CCI, ALP
DOCST 110S Introduction to Oral History R, CZ
DOCST 115S Introduction to Black and White Photography ALP
DOCST 119S Introduction to Digital Photography ALP
DOCST 135S Introduction to Audio Documentary EI, R, ALP
DOCST 137FS Minor Utopias: Everyday Approaches to a Better World EI, R, CZ
DOCST 159S Gateway Seminar: What Did Your Grandparents Do? A Global Exploration of Individual Life Histories CCI, R, CZ
DOCST 169 Documentary Photography and Film of the Nuclear Age CCI, CZ
DOCST 171SA Capturing the City: Documentary Photography in Berlin CCI, ALP
DOCST 179FS Documenting Youth Movements for Environment and Racial Justice Since 2010 EI, R
DOCST 190 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 190FS Focus Program Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 190S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 191 Independent Study
DOCST 192 Independent Study
DOCST 193 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 194 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 202S Children and the Experience of Illness ALP, SS
DOCST 206S Medicine and the Vision of Documentary Photography ALP
DOCST 207 Digital Imaging
DOCST 208S The Silent Film: An Introduction STS, ALP
DOCST 209FS Digital Documentary Photography: Education, Childhood, and Growth EI, ALP
DOCST 209S Digital Documentary Photography: Education, Childhood, and Growth EI, ALP
DOCST 215S Documentary Photography and the Southern Culture Landscape CCI, ALP
DOCST 222S The Photographic Portfolio ALP
DOCST 223S Global Stories, Local Issues CCI, EI, R, SS
DOCST 224S Children's Self Expression: Literacy Through Photography EI, ALP, SS
DOCST 225 Women and the Political Process R, SS
DOCST 227S Sociology through Photography ALP, SS
DOCST 230S Small Town USA: Local Collaborations CCI, R, ALP
DOCST 236S Color Photography: Fieldwork and Digital Color ALP
DOCST 242S Dance for the Camera R, STS, ALP
DOCST 246S Feeding Diaspora: Global Food Stories and Audio Journalism CCI, CZ
DOCST 250S The Photobook: History and Practice CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 256S Climate, Culture and Identity
DOCST 264 Introduction to Film Studies ALP
DOCST 268 Religion and Film CCI, EI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 270 Contemporary Documentary Film: Filmmakers and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival CCI, STS, ALP
DOCST 272S Documentary and Policy: How Documentary Influences Policy ALP
DOCST 273S Filming Freedom Movements: Movies, Music, Monuments, Memory EI, W, ALP
DOCST 274 The Middle East Through Film CCI, EI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 275S Gender and Media CCI, SS
DOCST 276S Writing American Politics EI, R, W, CZ, SS
DOCST 278S Producing Docu-Fiction ALP
DOCST 279S Docu-Poetry: Real Life Truths Outside and Inside the Poetic Narrative EI, W, ALP
DOCST 281S Cinematography ALP
DOCST 282AS Studies in the United States Culture Industries R, W, ALP
DOCST 282S Studies in the United States Culture Industries R, W, ALP
DOCST 285S Visiting Filmmaker Master Courses: Special Topics ALP
DOCST 288S Editing for Film and Video ALP
DOCST 289S Black Durham: Discovering Durham's Hallowed Ground through Arts
DOCST 290 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 290A Special Topics in Documentary Studies: Study Abroad
DOCST 290S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 291 Independent Study
DOCST 292 Independent Study
DOCST 293 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 294 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 295S Arts Entrepreneurship ALP
DOCST 301S Applied Documentary Research R, ALP
DOCST 303 History of Photography, 1839 to the Present CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 305S Black Geographies: Borders, Boundaries & Blackness in the U.S. CCI, SS
DOCST 307S Dance Film: Documentary Aesthetics in Dance-Moving Image Practice
DOCST 309S Carceral Geographies: Explaining Mass Incarceration in the U.S. CCI, SS
DOCST 315DS Environmental Issues & the Documentary Arts ALP
DOCST 315S Environmental Issues & the Documentary Arts ALP
DOCST 317S Veterans Oral History Project CCI, SS
DOCST 318S Photo Workshop ALP
DOCST 321S Artists' Video: Police, Pandemics and Presidents CCI, ALP
DOCST 322S American Independent Cinema CCI, ALP
DOCST 323S Motion Graphics for Film and Video STS, ALP
DOCST 326 The South in Black and White CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 326S The South in Black and White CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 327S Migrations CCI, EI, R, ALP, CZ
DOCST 329S Historical Documentary Production EI, R, ALP, SS
DOCST 331S Documenting US Women's Health Post-Roe v. Wade EI, R, CZ
DOCST 332S Farmworkers in North Carolina: Roots of Poverty, Roots of Change CCI, EI, CZ, SS
DOCST 333S Photo Fever: Curating Photo Exhibitions R, ALP
DOCST 334S Representing the Real—Documentary and Other Fictions
DOCST 338S Media and Indigenous Experiences CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 344S Our Culinary Cultures CCI, W, ALP
DOCST 350S Documenting Black Experiences CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 353S Sound for Film and Video ALP
DOCST 354S Web Design and Narrative: Artists, Documentarians, Art Historians, and Entrepreneurs R, ALP
DOCST 356S Long-form Journalism W, SS
DOCST 357S 16mm Film Production ALP
DOCST 358S Understanding Mediation CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 359A Introduction to Global Los Angeles: An Interdisciplinary Survey (Service-Learning) CCI, EI, ALP
DOCST 363S The Autobiographical Impulse in Photography EI, ALP
DOCST 364S Art of the Interview R, W
DOCST 365S The Documentary Turn: Southern Culture EI, W, ALP, CZ
DOCST 367S Video Journalism ALP, SS
DOCST 368S The View Camera: Black and White Large Format Photography ALP
DOCST 369 Podcasting in A Changing Media Landscape: The Art, Craft and Ethics of An Emerging Medium EI, R, ALP
DOCST 370S The Environment in Literature, Law, and Science CCI, EI, ALP
DOCST 371 News as a Moral Battleground EI, R, W, SS
DOCST 375S Recycled Cinema ALP
DOCST 383S The Nature Film: History and Practice
DOCST 390 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 390S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 391 Independent Study
DOCST 392 Independent Study
DOCST 393 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 394 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 451S Filming Art ALP
DOCST 453S Cinematography II ALP
DOCST 476S Archiving and Visualizing Asia: Politics and Poetics of Knowledge Production CCI, R, CZ
DOCST 480S Capstone Seminar in Documentary Studies R, ALP
DOCST 490 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 490S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 491 Independent Study
DOCST 492 Independent Study
DOCST 493 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 494 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 502S Analog Filmmaking and Darkroom Techniques ALP
DOCST 511 Documentary and East Asian Cultures CCI, EI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 512S Graphic Ethnography: Comics as Research
DOCST 515S Oral History Methods EI, R
DOCST 540S Memory and Documentary Cinema in Latin America CCI, ALP, CZ
DOCST 558S Business Strategies for the Arts and Artists R
DOCST 590 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 590S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 591 Independent Study
DOCST 592 Independent Study
DOCST 593 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 594 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 620S Film-philosophers/Film-makers STS, ALP, CZ
DOCST 640S Expanded Cinema: Cinema Outside the Movie Theater ALP
DOCST 690 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 690S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 691 Independent Study
DOCST 692 Independent Study R
DOCST 693 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 694 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 711S Artists' Video: Police, Pandemics and Presidents
DOCST 714S Introduction to Black and White Photography
DOCST 718S Sound in Cinema: Sonic Theories in Film and Media
DOCST 726 The South in Black and White
DOCST 726S The South in Black and White
DOCST 733S Representing the Real—Documentary and Other Fictions
DOCST 733S Photo Fever: Curating Photo Exhibitions
DOCST 735S Introduction to Audio Documentary
DOCST 736S Color Photography: Fieldwork and Digital Color
DOCST 751S Documenting Black Experiences
DOCST 753S Cinematography II Graduate
DOCST 757S Editing for Film and Video
DOCST 765S The Documentary Turn: Southern Culture
DOCST 768S The View Camera: Black and White Large Format Photography
DOCST 776S Recycled Cinema
DOCST 779S Docu-Poetry: Real Life Truths Outside and Inside the Poetic Narrative
DOCST 790 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 790S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 791 Independent Study
DOCST 792 Independent Study
DOCST 793 Research Independent Study R
DOCST 794 Research Independent Study
DOCST 801S Applied Documentary Research
DOCST 850S Deleuze: Cinema and Philosophy
DOCST 890 Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 890S Special Topics in Documentary Studies
DOCST 891 Independent Study
DOCST 892 Independent Study
DOCST 893 Research Independent Study
DOCST 894 Research Independent Study R