[Previous entry: "SAT"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Miles"]

05/24/2005 Archived Entry: "Documenting Detroit"

Documenting Detroit
For an advanced writing course I'll be teaching this Fall, I plan on doing "Documenting Detroit." The idea will be to create documentaries on Detroit, either text or web-based (all depends on our success in getting labs set up in time with appropriate software). We'll use the documentary genre to think about our own relationships to place. Each project will work from an anecdote about Detroit (each writer telling the story of his/her moment in a specific part of the city) and extend outward through an examination of a place within the city (research on place motivating the project - how does the history/event/encounter with this place overlap with me?). I'll probably assign Bill Nichols' Introduction to Documentary for context on the rhetoric of documentaries. But for Detroit readings, I'm thinking of only using websites and online readings (and some online video documentaries I've also marked as well for examples). In my del.icio.us bookmarks I've started collecting ideas. There are also some fantastic weblogs (look to the blogroll) that will be assigned daily reading. If you come across anyting you feel is relevant, feel free to pass it on.