Race Inclusive Storytelling

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Today’s writers and editors are expected to curate and engage with communities around a variety of multicultural topics: Gender, Race, Nationality, Sexuality and Religion to name a few. This course will allow students to explore, expand and probe the notion of diversity and the “other.” The clash of cultures is playing out in the corridors of power. But how does it impact individuals? Students will learn how to identify larger trends through the individual. Mainstream news organizations such as the New York Times and NPR now have beats which cover global health and poverty, gender and race among others. Students will be asked to cover a community they are not familiar with -- whether it be a refugee family, an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, women in the workplace, or a poor neighborhood to name a few examples. You will learn how to tell a story that makes everyone care. We will read, listen and watch some great works of multicultural reporting to serve as context and critique new ones. This course will be reporting and writing intensive. The goal will be to create a multimedia platform –blogs, photos, and one long form piece whether it be magazine, podcast or long for video that everyone can contribute to. You learn also how to pitch the story to get editors interested.