A student film project at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) was turned this week into a 12-minute opinion video for the New York Times. In the film, James Robinson, who graduated in 2020, shows what it feels like to live with several disabling eye conditions that have defied an array of treatments and caused him countless humiliations. Using playful graphics and enlisting his family as subjects in a series of optical tests, he invites others to view the world through… read more about How Life Looks Through 'My Whale Eyes' »
At the end of June, Wesley Hogan will conclude an 8-year tenure as director of Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (CDS). She’ll return to the Duke faculty as a research professor with Duke’s Franklin Humanities Institute. Her successor is expected to be named soon. In her new role as a research professor, Hogan will continue teaching courses focusing on oral history, human rights and youth social movements. She’ll also continue work on a project that’s been at Duke as long as she has. In her… read more about Wesley Hogan: On Giving Documentary Subjects A Strong Voice in Their Stories »
Seventh-graders invited by CDS exhibitions director Courtney Reid-Eaton to Myra Greene's My White Friends exhibit, 2014. Photograph by Katie Hyde. The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University is proud to announce its new Curator’s Award for Insight and Innovation to recognize both established and emerging Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) curators in the documentary field writ large. While there are many awards that honor the contributions of… read more about CDS Creates New Curators' Award, Names Courtney Reid-Eaton Inaugural Recipient »
Callanish I, Isle of Lewis, Scotland, 2010 | Private Collections MJ Sharp, a Lecturing Fellow of Documentary Studies at Duke University and a longtime photography instructor at the school’s Center for Documentary Studies (CDS), has been named a Fulbright Scholar for the 2021–22 academic year. The documentary and fine arts photographer will pursue an arts/science project, “Our Disappearing Darkness and Recreating True Night,” at the University of Exeter, UK, building on more than… read more about CDS Photo Instructor MJ Sharp Receives 2021–22 Fulbright for Project in the UK »
Floyd Country Store Friday Jamboree (Photo: Richard Toller, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0) On Friday nights, the small town of Floyd in southwestern Virginia (population 425) becomes a gathering spot to play and hear American traditional music. Decades ago, the Floyd Country Store started hosting an informal jamboree. Word spread, the crowds grew, and the store now boasts a state-of-the-art performance stage. “People come from all over the world every Friday night,” says Charles D.… read more about Rock Castle Home: A Disappearing Appalachian Community Shares Its Stories »
"I reached out to Chris [Everett, producer and director of Wilmington on Fire 2] after I had seen [Wilmington on Fire] and a number of actor friends from the Wilmington [North Carolina] area told me that I had to watch this..." (Read More) read more about Full Frame’s Chris Everett and His “Wilmington On Fire” Films Praised in Interview Magazine »
(Film available on PBS.org.) Watch the Emmy spot. read more about Shaw Rising Wins Emmy Award—Feature Doc About NC HBCU Written and Produced by CDS Instructor Hal Goodtree »
“The Pretend Villages,” a New Photobook by CDS Undergrad Ed Director Chris Sims, Featured in German GQ, Major Munich and Lisbon Papers read more about "The Pretend Villages" by Chris Sims Featured »
Members of the "Our Story" project planning group A new initiative developed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Legacy Project (SLP), the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the Duke Libraries, the New Georgia Project, BYP 100, and the Ohio Voice and made possible by a $630,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aims to document how today’s activists built their social and political movements. An understanding of the present day… read more about “Our Story. Our Terms: Documenting Movement Building from the Inside Out” »
The Scene on Radio podcast from the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University has been nominated for a 2021 Peabody Award for its Season 4 series on democracy. Created and produced by CDS audio director John Biewen and distributed by PRX, the podcast aims to explore human experience and society. The season-long series The Land That Never Has Been Yet (January–June 2020) explores democracy in America, past and… read more about CDS Podcast Garners Second Peabody Award Nomination »
Zoom screenshot of Fall 2020 Capstone Seminar students with CDS Lecturing Fellow Nancy Kalow (top left) The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) is proud to recognize thirteen Duke University undergraduates from the 2020–2021 academic year who have earned a Certificate in Documentary Studies. Working in one or more documentary mediums—photography, filmmaking, writing, audio, performance, among others—students complete a program of study involving community-based research and fieldwork. Certificate students… read more about CDS Celebrates Certificate in Documentary Studies Graduates »
The Office for Faculty Advancement has awarded seed grants to 14 faculty-led projects exploring new ideas and expanding existing initiatives to promote an equitable and inclusive academic environment at Duke. The theme for this cycle was "Confronting Racism and Bias: Fostering an Inclusive Community." Faculty Advancement Seed Grants provide a financial head start for novel faculty development initiatives within academic units. 2021-22 Faculty Advancement Seed Grants Art, Art History and Visual Studies Anti-Racist Pedagogy… read more about Seed Grants Help Faculty Lead the Way in Confronting Racism and Bias »
Part of our “Art and Artists are Essential” collection and invitation. “I started writing music over winter break from home. I met Robbie Rosen, a producer and American Idol finalist, who helped me write original songs for the first time! This is a song about being stuck between two places, and I think every Duke student has felt this in some capacity, especially during the pandemic. We were back in our hometowns for longer than we are used to, and many of us are questioning where we feel most at home. I feel really… read more about Sophia Roth ‘22: “Between Two Worlds” »
How many people have seen their cervix? Obscured from view and stigmatized socially, the cervix is critical to women’s, transgender-men’s, and non-binary folks’ health — and potential reproductive health issues. A team formed through Duke’s Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies (GWHT) has created a device that not only holds immense medical potential but the potential to empower people with cervixes across the globe: It makes visible a previously invisible organ. Nimmi Ramanujam (Ph.D.), founder of GWHT and… read more about Invisible No More, the Cervix »
In 2021, the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) will embark on a new collaboration with three Charlotte, North Carolina–based partners to gather, preserve, and share local histories—stories, documents, visual imagery, and memories—about the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities in Mecklenburg County. CDS, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, Johnson C. Smith University, and the Levine Museum of the New South will map out and implement the three-year… read more about CDS Partners on “Living Archive” Project to Document Impact of COVID-19 on Charlotte Communities »
Deirdre Haj, director of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival since January 2010, is stepping down from her position, effective March 15, 2021. Full Frame is a program of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Over the past eleven years, Deirdre has led the festival to numerous achievements, including the creation of the signature festival Speakeasy conversation series, the School of Doc filmmaking course for teens, and the Teach the Teachers documentary literacy… read more about Festival Director Deirdre Haj Stepping Down in March »
This month, we present a collection of 10 Duke-authored books detailing the history of Black life in America. While this is not a comprehensive list of all Duke scholarship on Black history, it is intended to be an introduction to the multifaceted work of Duke scholars in public policy, history, documentary studies, religious studies, African and African-American studies, cultural anthropology, sociology, art, art history, and visual studies. These books, along with many others, are available at Duke… read more about 10 Duke-Authored Books on Black History »
Courtney Liu '13, MFA in Dance '21, shares "Blurring the Lines" created with undergraduate students in Intermediate Ballet. "Creative projects are still being made and it is more important than ever to share, engage with, and celebrate each other's work," shares Emma Geiger, MFA EDA '22, who collaborated on filming and editing. Part of our “Art and Artists are Essential” collection and invitation. Intermediate Ballet (Dance 122) completed the Fall 2020 semester by producing “Blurring the Lines.” This short dance… read more about Blurring the Lines: Collective Resonance During COVID-19 »
Last year, five Duke University faculty members set out to build skills and add new dimensions to their work. In these excerpts from their Faculty Teaching/Research Enhancement Grants (FTREG) reports, they share what they undertook and how these experiences will help them and their students. Improvisation Jody McAuliffe, Theater Studies and Slavic & Eurasian Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences I took the Summer Intensive in improvisation offered at the iO Theater in Chicago. Widely considered the premier… read more about Five Scholars Find Creative Ways to Strengthen Their Research and Teaching »
“We wanted a senior year for the record books, and we got it! … Just not for the reason we expected. COVID-19 threw a curve ball at us, but we’ve made it our mission to find happiness in different places.” With these words, Duke student Nneka Nwabueze begins a photo essay of student life during the pandemic. It’s part of a class project Digital Documentary Photography: Education, Childhood, and Growth (DOCTST 209S / FS), a Center for Documentary Studies course taught by Susie Post-Rust. Students created essays showcasing… read more about 'COVID-19 Threw a Curve Ball at Us': Student Photo Essays Document Life During a Pandemic »
Salt water flows in my veins, and I can recall my first taste of the Atlantic Ocean at two years old. I grew up hearing stories of how a six-year-old boy and girl, my maternal grandparents, met on a sandy South Carolina road and first experienced the spark that created my extended family. Read more. read more about Story by CDS Instructor Michelle Lanier, “Rooted: Black Women, Southern Memory, and Womanist Cartographies,” Featured in Southern Cultures »
To understand and eradicate racist thinking, start at the beginning. That's what journalist and documentarian John Biewen did, leading to a trove of surprising and thought-provoking information on the "origins" of race. Watch now. read more about TEDx Talk by CDS Podcast Producer John Biewen Featured on TED.com, “The Lie That Invented Racism” »
Firelight Media today revealed the 14 Fellows selected for the 2020-22 Firelight Documentary Lab. The 18-month program supporting Black, indigenous and other filmmakers of color is now in its 11th year. Read more. read more about Full Frame’s Chris Everett Selected as a 2020–22 Firelight Media Documentary Lab Fellow »