Community-Based Media and Social Change

In this program, we will explore community-based media as an experiential, embodied practice of social and political action. We will focus on challenging our ways of understanding power, community resilience, inclusion and social transformation, emphasizing relationship-building as the foundation for collaborative media practices with potential for social transformation. We will focus our work in Shelton (Mason County) and to some extent Olympia and beyond.  We will engage with issues of immigration, youth, labor, education, food justice, economic development, housing, and others, and their impacts within local communities.  We will learn skills in qualitative research, media production, and oral history interviewing, and explore their potential uses in community collaboration, seeking to follow the community’s lead to guide our collective work.

In winter, we will develop foundational knowledge, skills, and relationships that will set the stage for deepening our work in the spring.  We will explore the heterogeneity and diversity of Latinx communities in the US, engage with (im)migrant histories and stories, examine impacts of US policy on migration and the displacement of indigenous peoples from Latin America to the US.  We will gain familiarity with local history and with people and organizations who are addressing a range of community issues in transformative ways.  We will develop skills in critical analysis of media and the power dynamics of representation, at the same time as we reflect on how dominant social structures appear in daily life and how they may be contested or mitigated.  We will explore various modes of creation–narratives, spoken word, zines, sound recording, podcasts, video– and what each offers as a mode of expression.  We will begin work on practices relevant for crafting counter-narratives, oral history, and multimodal media production.  Our work will be informed by popular education and participatory methods that aim for respectful, ethical, and reciprocal community collaborations.

In spring, we will continue developing our understandings of, and engagement with, local communities, with emphasis on Latinx and indigenous-centered projects.  We will explore participatory and collaborative media production guided by community priorities, seeking to contribute to community endeavors.  We will emphasize storytelling, critical reflection, community-based media documentation, and participatory action research.

Both quarters, most class meetings will take place on campus, though we will meet in community settings increasingly over time.  This will include volunteer work with, or accompaniment of, community members or groups.  Spring quarter will culminate in sharing collaborative outcomes and reflections on our work.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

Exact credit amount will be determined closer to start of the quarter, but will include:

• Latinx Studies
• Visual and Media Arts
• Critical Approaches to Documentary Media
• Fundamentals of Community-Based Media Practices
• Media Projects
• Internships (optional)