Ethnographic Filmmaking

Catalog description

An ethnographic study of American Indians in Oklahoma through the lens of a video camera. Students spend the first week on CCNY campus getting acquainted with both the video equipment and the subject matter - Indians of Oklahoma. The second and third week are spent in Oklahoma, where the field work will be performed. The fourth week is spent back on CCNY campus editing short documentaries, reviewing, evaluating and analyzing the ethnographic experience through screenings and presentations. No prerequisites. Students must send a letter of interest to the professor, stating how this course will relate to their academic studies as well as their personal interest. ([email protected] tel# 212 650-5004)The Field Work:From 1830-1890 67 American Indian Tribes were relocated to Oklahoma (The Indian Territory) from all over the United States in what is known historically as The Trail of Tears. Today 39 tribal nations remain, practicing a wide range of American Indian Cultural activities, making Oklahoma a unique and vibrantly diversified place unlike any other in the United States.This ethnographic program includes visits and tours to the many historical sites, battle fields, the Wichita Wild Life Refuge, Indian rodeos, participation in the annual Jim Thorpe Athletic Games, pow-wows, sweat lodge ceremonies and many other doings as the Indians of Oklahoma call them.COSTS IN OKLAHOMA FOR TWO WEEKS: $1260 paid up frontIncludes: accommodations in air conditioned student dormitories on campus at the Cheyenne Arapaho Tribal College, free wireless internet in your room, shared bathrooms, free laundry facilities at the dorm, access to the computer center, library, athletic center, swimming pool, TV rooms, pool tables, work out rooms, ground transportation for all excursions, field trips, events, entry fees, participation fees, permits, ceremonial meals, and all necessary film…