About Students' Final Projects

Students enrolled in "Classism, Racism, and Sexism" in the Spring 2008 and Fall 2009 semesters were assigned a digital storytelling project as their "final." For the Spring 2008 class, the goal was to create a “then” and “now” parallel storyline between a historical social problem and a contemporary one. They worked on this project in groups and addressed a variety of topics relating to the course subject: sexual violence in warfare, musical representations, race and gender politics in the 2008 presidential race, stereotypes and hate speech, immigration, lynching and noose hangings, post-Hurricane Katrina and gentrification, and school segregation. For the Fall 2009 class, students selected their own topics in creating their digital videos, and competed to produce the best video - with the reward of earning the full points of the final exam or bonus points toward this.

The task was daunting, as they were expected to address the simultaneous effects of intersectional 'isms through new media and digital technology. Many have indicated that these projects were their first endeavor into creating a digital video project. As their instructor, I am impressed by their efforts and feel that many of these projects succeeded in their goals. I also appreciate their integration of course content and creativity while promoting awareness of these issues and while dismantling the intersections of oppression. Because not all of the video projects could all be featured, either due to technical errors or sensitive material, the three that are on exhibit here (see sidebar links) are representative of the main themes discussed this semester.

- Dr. Janell Hobson

Back to Course Syllabus.