Praxis #2 Media Intervention, Multimedia Essay (Individual)

Entry 2 in our Museum of Resistance and Resilience

October 21, posted in Scalar by the start of class

In All About Love, bell hooks argues for a community founded on a “love ethic.” For hooks such a community would require a transformation as: “A love ethic presupposes that everyone has the right to be free, to live fully and well. To bring a love ethic to every dimension of our lives, our society would need to embrace change.” In your project two, you will create a multimedia essay (using any combination of text, image, sound – a video essay, a zine, etc) that bears witness to a current act of resistance or resilience in service of building the transformative community beyond dominator culture that hooks has outlined.

Your project can take on many forms as noted above and will be based on an interview with someone that you believe contributes to the community founded on hooks’s love ethic. The interview can be with a current or former political or social activist or organizer, artist, art collective, community or student leader or group that works on transformative change toward an inclusive and equitable society. You can make a video profile of the subject, do a text- or audio-based story with visual accompaniments, or even render a performance that is based on a transcription of the interview. You should have permission (and a release) for any interview as well as being mindful of protecting the privacy and safety of those you interview. Your interviews can be anonymous as needed. Please do check with us if there is any question about anonymity. Remember our projects will be displayed on the Scalar public platform so the first role of any good documentarian is “do no harm.”

For content it is open to pursue a line of inquiry that you believe best reveals the subject’s efforts as demonstrative of the social and community transformation that we have discussed this semester.  It might be about what was the particular issue/event that began the work, the outcome/s they are hoping to achieve, the difficulties involved in organizing for change, etc. The “activism” could range from protests to arts practice to community/public/student service and should be something that advances human rights and inclusivity. Issues might be anti-racism, sexism/gender justice, anti-gun violence, immigrant, worker, disability rights, etc. If you have a person or group that you are not sure fits into the context, please check with us.

Your video can be from 2-5 minutes (maximum) and your zine 4-6 pages (with cover). If you have another format for your multimedia essay, please speak with Vicki and Lisa as we are open to your creativity for this project.

Your project should include a reflection of 400 words minimum. To “bear witness”* often means to document those things that are unknown, unspoken, or which our society is in denial. The storyteller’s role is to be open to the story without assumptions or presuppositions. In James Baldwin’s use of the term, he saw his role as “witness” as a truth-teller,” who provides a history untold alongside context and analysis.  One goal of the project to “bear witness” is to learn something new and to grow.  In your reflection you should discuss how this process produced, changed, or developed your ideas on a topic.

You should post your project in Scalar as a path underneath the, Praxis #2, Media Intervention,  Multimedia Essay page. Hover over the top left corner of home page to get the link to that page.

You will present your “essay” in class. By the evening of October 21 at midnight you should post your reflection in the folder Praxis> Praxis #2 Media Intervention folder (not on Scalar).

Your project will be graded on:

Concept: Do you engage with a core idea or ideas of as discussed in hooks or other relevant readings and screenings in class?

Technique: Does your project run properly?

Complexity: Does the multimedia essay present us insights into the idea beyond a basic setting out of a problem or issue? Is the speaker or issue’s context adequately represented so that the listener/viewer can understand the dynamics in place.

Reflection and Citation: Here you should reflect upon the process of making the video and the conversation/s or dialogue/s you experienced with this project. Some questions to consider: How did the idea of hooks’s “love ethic” shape the process? What role did “witnessing” play in how you imagined or edited your project? Why did select the particular media form employed and how did that shape your intended outcome. What role do you think media can play in inclusion and transformational social change? Citations should be complete and formatted correctly for APA 6th edition.

*For more on “bearing witness” see Baldwin’s commentary in I am Not Your Negro (view 17-23 minutes in film). You might also want to read Bernie Glassman’s short explanation of “bearing witness,” which for him was a way of life: https://www.lionsroar.com/bearing-witness-to-all-of-life/