Join us for the Fall 2026 Documentary Showcase! This event celebrates the documentary work of undergraduate and graduate students of The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi.
Taking place on Friday, December 4th at 6 p.m. in Barnard Observatory, Tupelo Room, each storyteller will present samples of their work (film, photography, audio, multimedia), followed by a panel discussion. This celebration is free and open to the public!
SSTU 3330 – Intro to Documentary Fieldwork – Prof. John Rash
- This course provides students with not only a broad overview of documentary methods but also an opportunity to create their own documentary work. Students in this course focus on technical aspects of documentary storytelling through film, photography, and audio, applying each medium to individual students’ fieldwork.
SSTU 5830 – Fieldwork & Oral History – Prof. Annemarie Anderson
- This course provides students not only a broad overview of documentary methods but also an opportunity to create your own documentary work. Over the course of this semester, we will focus on the technical aspects of documentary storytelling as well as broader historical and ethical concerns that guide our storytelling. By the end of this course, students will learn how to: learn the basic principles of successful documentary production, including ideating original documentary work, gaining literacy in technical skills, and proficiency in Adobe editing software, gain a greater awareness of the historical context of documentary practice through analysis and reflection upon the work of various documentarians, cultivate an ethical framework for their documentary practice, and create their own original documentary projects.
SSTU 5890 – Techniques of Documentary Production – Prof. Andy Harper
- This course focuses on the technical aspects of telling stories in photo, film and audio documentary formats. Weekly exercises give students practical hands-on experience with all of the equipment in the SouthDocs cage with a special emphasis on camera exposure and composition. Students also learn lighting and audio techniques that will make their work stand out.
SSTU 6330 – MFA Fieldwork – Prof. Melanie Ho
- This class exposes students to multiple forms of fieldwork (video, audio, and printed photography) and to practitioners of various kinds of documentary work, encouraging them to produce by semester’s end a project that utilizes skills in at least one of the approaches to which they have been exposed. This year, we will be working in collaboration with the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council to produce documentary films focused on Mississippi musicians.
SSTU 6830 – MFA Documentary Post-Production – Prof. Melanie Ho
- This course is designed to move Southern Studies M.F.A. students toward the completion of their thesis films. Students will focus on interpreting raw footage and materials gathered over the summer prior to their last year in the M.F.A. with the goal of creating two rough cuts of their films. Additionally, students will complete an outline of their written thesis as well as a process chapter draft.