Calendar

SES # TOPICS KEY DUE DATES
Introduction
1 Introduction – Exploring Storytelling and the American Dream: The Growing Inequalities of the 21st Century  
Storytelling, History and Ethnography
2

On Doing Oral History I

Guest Lecturer: 

Peter Alter, Director of Studs Terkel Center for Oral History, Chicago History Museum

In-Class Activity:

Listen to oral histories on the Studs Terkel Radio Archive

 
3

On Doing Oral History II

In-Class Activity:

Practice conducting interviews with classmates in small groups

Assignment 1 due
4

On Ethnographic Methods

In-Class Ethnographic Activity:

Find a setting in the MIT's Infinite Corridor, Student Center, or a dormitory cafeteria in which there is a lot of student activity; quietly observe social patterns for 15–20 mins; come back and report to your classmates. What analysis might you offer to account for such patterns? How does one acknowledge social patterns without stereotyping?

 
5 Storytelling and the Intersection of Identities  
6

Telling Stories about Post-Industrialism, Working Across Media I

Guest Lecturer: 

Chris Boebel, filmmaker

Viewing:

Exit Zero: An Industrial Family Story. Directed by Chris Boebel. Color, 92 min. 2016.

Trailer:

"Exit Zero Trailer." April 12, 2015. YouTube.

Oral history assignment due 
7

Telling Stories (and Offering Analysis) Across Media II

In-Class Activity:

Look through letters, scrapbooks, photos, home movies, and oral histories from the Southeast Chicago Historical Society archiving project focusing on different immigrant communities in this former steel mill town; choose particular items to analyze in depth and then report back to classmates.

 
8

Telling Stories Through and With Objects

In-Class Activity:

Break into small groups and continue exploring materials from the Southeast Chicago Historical Society; look at samples of online interactive documentary work. As a group, imagine you were to create a multimedia exhibit on a particular topic based on these materials. Draw up designs for an exhibit; what is most important for you to convey about a certain topic? How would you present it in a way that is compelling for a larger audience?

 
9 Field Trip to MIT Museum  
10

Museum Exhibit Presentations to Class

 

Museum exhibit assignment due  
Stories We Tell about Social Class
11

Stories of the Wealthy

Viewing:

Born Rich. Directed by Jamie Johnson. Color, 75 min. 2003.

 
12

Stories of Class from Outside the U.S. I

In-Class Activity:

Explore oral history tapes and materials from Chole Island in Tanzania (East Africa); consider how oral narrative conventions differ across regions and languages; search oral history sites with materials from other parts of the world.

 
13

Stories of Class from Outside the U.S. II

Viewing:

Stories We Tell. Directed by Sarah Polley. Color, 108 min. 2012.

 
14 Meal and Final Discussion Final paper due

For detailed information on the course assignments and the final paper, see the Assignments section.