Digital Storytelling In and With American Indian Studies
Digital Storytelling In and With American Indian Studies (AmIn 4990)
Instructor: Carter Meland (melan002@umn.edu)
Meets: T-Th 2:30-3:45, Scott Hall 4
Western-oriented discussions of painting, film, and literature generally focus on the formal aesthetic qualities of a piece. In Indigenous Aesthetics, Steven Leuthold argues that an indigenous aesthic differs: It is not as concerned with form and is more concerned with social practices and values expressed in the piece (story, film, or painting). He suggests foregrounding and examining the social dimension of art and how it is used in and/or for a community.
Dakota literary critic Elizabeth Cook-Lynn suggests that narratives produced within, for, and about Native communities need to be accountable to those communities. They need to work with those communities as they express and articulate their sovereignty as nations and explore with them the issues they face as they narrate their histories and assert their social, cultural, and political sovereignty. Being accountable is different than documenting the ways of a people. Documenting removes the documenter from accountability to the community and makes them instead an observer; they are accountable to an abstract ideal of knowledge they record things for posterity, not for the people. The accountability of indigenous aesthetics asks us to recognize our responsibility to the communities we enter as paramount.
In this course, we will examine digital media, film, video, webmedia for the ways it handles stories important to Native American Indian peoples and their communities. We will develop the ability to critically examine and make distinctions between productions and narratives that document communities and those that are accountable to communities. We will explore digital media-making as modes of self-examination and expression as well as exploring the way digital media can be critical tools in community organizing and development. We will examine our relations to and experiences with Native American family, friends, and communities, whether we are Native or not. We will create digital media photos, slideshows, and video to explore our individual stories and experiences, and we will also work collaboratively to create digital video stories that are accountable to the people and communities we are engaged with.
Course Objectives
Develop an understanding of the ethical and moral dimensions of creating representations of Native peoples and communities; discuss the ethnographic/colonialist construction of Native peoples.
Develop an appreciation for Native aesthetics, especially as presented in digital media and film.
Consider the impact that digital media and storytelling can have on ourselves and in our communities.
Learn about basic digital media production hardware and software, and develop the skills to effectively use them.
Understand the concepts and methodologies of media making, visual literacy, visual composition, and principles of video editing.
Produce digital media that demonstrates creativity, critical thinking, and technical skill in digital storytelling.