Special Topics (390-0-21)
Topic
Oral History as Journalism
Instructors
Alex W Kotlowitz
847/467-4099
555 Clark Street, Room 218
Meeting Info
McCormick Foundation Ctr 2111: Mon 1:00PM - 3:50PM
Overview of class
Publications from The Washington Post to Vanity Fair to New York Magazine have increasingly turned to oral history as a vehicle for storytelling. In this course, we'll read magazine pieces and book excerpts, listen to audio, watch film - and try our hand at telling stories where the narrator/the reporter gets completely out of the way.
Think of this as a master class in interviewing. What are the best techniques to get people to feel comfortable opening up? How do we get to know people's stories? What are the ethical issues that arise in this kind of work? We'll read the masters, from Studs Terkel to the Nobel Prize-winning Svetlana Alexievich to Anna Deavere Smith. We'll read excerpts of oral histories on ACT UP, on the women abused by Bill Cosby, on refugees, on our time under COVID. We'll listen to radio including Joe Richman's Radio Diaries and StoryCorps. We'll watch films like Flee, the animated story of an Afghan refugee told in his own words. We'll come to appreciate the power of the human voice.
This is a relatively new way of telling journalistic stories, and so we'll look at how journalists are experimenting with this form. We'll hopefully have some guest speakers, practitioners of this craft.
Everyone will have the chance to work on an oral history project of their own, and there will be room for those with audio experience to do it as an audio piece. Also, group projects will be an option.
Registration Requirements
Pre-req: JOUR 301
Sophomore standing
Class Materials (Required)
The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman, et al - $11.89 paperback
Fires in the Mirror by Anna Deavere Smith - $10.79 paperback
Class Attributes
Attendance at 1st class mandatory
Prerequisites apply, see description
No Freshmen
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: In order to register for this course you must have taken JOUR 301, JOUR 301-1, JOUR 319, JOUR 352, JOUR 384, JOUR 390 (JOURneys: New York City & the), or JOUR 390 (JOURneys: Exploring Asian Amer).