Faculty Present Documentary Studies Work-in-Progress

Join us for a workshop series to hear from Duke faculty awarded seed grants in documentary studies. 

To support the expansion of scholarly and artistic communities across campus, Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) awarded 2024-2025 grants to faculty to seed new research undertakings.

In February and March, faculty recipients will present their work to date, followed by question-and-answer sessions. All are invited to participate in the workshops below sponsored by CDS and Duke's University Forum for Scholars and Publics at the Franklin Humanities Institute. The workshops will be held in the CDS Bridges Auditorium (B007), 1317 W. Pettigrew Street, Durham.

Spring Workshop Series

February 5, 1:30-3:00 p.m.:

• Martin Smith, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Education, and Javier Wallace, Postdoctoral Associate, African & African American Studies
  Documentary Film on C.B. Claiborne
  This film explores the role of sports at Duke through the story of Claudius (C.B.) Claiborne, the university’s first Black student-athlete. It delves into the transformation of Duke Men’s Basketball, once racially segregated, and highlights Claiborne’s activism during the U.S. civil rights movement and Black power era, contrasting it with players’ experiences today. Funmi Ogunro, Emmy-nominated film editor, is co-executive producer of the film.
   

February 12, 1:30-3:00 p.m.:

• Christopher Ouma, Associate Professor of English, and Khwezi Mkhize, Assistant Professor of African & African American Studies
  Black Archival Imagination: The Hugh Exton Photographic Museum
  This project is retrieving, documenting and examining an archive of photographs documenting social life in Polokwane, South Africa, between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. This project aims to work with the archive to create conditions for digitalization, documentary purposes, and an exhibition and book.

February 19, 1:30-3:00 p.m.:

• Raquel Salvatella de Prada, Associate Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
  BIOTA: Past, Present and Future
  This project explores the impacts of climate change, human activity and invasive species on global ecosystems. Featuring mixed media prints and augmented reality, the exhibit will educate viewers about various threats while inspiring hope and guiding them to making a positive impact.

February 27, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

• Jenny Lion, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
  Experimental Documentary Video
  This project is one of a series of video installation and cinematic works that explore landscape and sustained observation at sites of historical resonance.
   
• Adam Rosenblatt, Associate Professor of the Practice in International Comparative Studies and Cultural Anthropology
  Graphic Ethnography and Mass Graves in Northern Uganda
  Rosenblatt is joining a team of cultural and forensic anthropologists in a decade-plus investigation into how communities in northern Uganda are still impacted by mass graves and missing persons after decades-long conflict in the region. Through ethnographic drawings and comics, he will share the team’s findings with rural communities where literacy is limited and create intimate representations of the research process. 
  
  
• Augustus Wendell, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, and Victoria Szabo, Research Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
  Documenting Racialized Infrastructure in Durham, NC
  Highway infrastructure projects dominated U.S. urban centers in the mid-20th century. The decisions surrounding route planning and the associated land clearance largely targeted communities of color. Durham’s thriving Hayti district was subject to this treatment in the late 1950s and 1960s. This project is gathering oral histories from members of the Hayti community and will make them available through a searchable web-based interface.

March 5, 1:30-3:00 p.m.:

• Ernest Grant, Consulting Professor in the School of Nursing
  Equity in Action: Breaking Barriers in Nursing Leadership for The Future of Healthcare
  The project will highlight the journeys of Black men in nursing leadership through interviews exploring their leadership philosophies, their personal stories, and the impact of diversity in healthcare.
  
  
• Trina Jones, Jerome M. Culp Distinguished Professor of Law, and Geovanny Martinez, Senior Lecturing Fellow, Duke Law School 
  Oral History Project, Center On Law, Race & Policy
  Jerome M. Culp, Jr. was the first tenured professor of color at Duke Law, a prolific scholar and internationally known for his work on race and the law. In his honor, the Center on Law, Race & Policy (CLRP) plans to establish and annually host the Jerome M. Culp, Jr. Critical Theory Lecture, and is conducting an oral history project documenting Professor Culp’s life, work, impact and legacy.