UAB Ethnographic Filmmaking is an interdisciplinary class that merges the methods of documentary filmmaking and anthropology as a way for students to research and represent local communities through film. Ethnography is a method used in social science in which community based research or “fieldwork” is conducted to learn about and represent a group of people or social phenomenon. The student films are the product of a semester long research assignment in which students investigate a social justice issue related to a local community or culture.

The goal of the course is for students to gain a better understanding of a community issue and their role as engaged citizens. Students are challenged to fairly represent perspectives different from their own through the craft of film and storytelling.