ANTH 327 / IML 423 Media Ethnography, Living Archives

What is an archive? What gets archived by and for whom? What does it take to preserve,
and what does it mean to preserve, a collection of thousands of videotapes made over the
last fifty years documenting people, events, and institutions at the heart of Black Los
Angeles, including: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Black Business Expos
from the 1980s-2000s, the Space Shuttle performance choreographed by Debbie Allen.
This interdisciplinary course introduces students to alternative histories of Los Angeles,
including archival practices and strategies for representing people and their histories.
Working with Heart and Soul Center, located just 15 minutes from the USC campus,
students will engage a vast collection of analog videos, complete substantive ethnographic
and library research on issues raised within the footage, and create media projects that
bring stories from the historic collection to contemporary publics. Investigating the close
interrelationships among technology, semiotics and culture, students will form a solid
foundation for ethnographic research and scholarly digital authoring.