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Media and Communication Department

Study Abroad

ETLA 240: Cuban Culture and Identity Documentary Film Experience

  • Students climbed stairs to the top of a building in the Plaza Mayor, the historic center of town in Trinidad, Cuba.
    Students climbed stairs to the top of a building in the Plaza Mayor, the historic center of town in Trinidad, Cuba.
  • Reading the news while having breakfast at Estudio Sampere La Habana, before Spanish language classes.
    Reading the news while having breakfast at Estudio Sampere La Habana, before Spanish language classes.
  • Students participating in Spanish language lessons while in Viñales, Cuba.
    Students participating in Spanish language lessons while in Viñales, Cuba.
  • While in Cienfuegos, Cuba, students attended a baseball game at Cinco de Septiembre Stadium.
    While in Cienfuegos, Cuba, students attended a baseball game at Cinco de Septiembre Stadium.
  • Locals enjoying their day in Trinidad, Cuba, a place known for its cobblestone streets and long colonial history.
    Locals enjoying their day in Trinidad, Cuba, a place known for its cobblestone streets and long colonial history.
  • Learning how to salsa dance at the school, Estudio Sampere La Habana.
    Learning how to salsa dance at the school, Estudio Sampere La Habana.
  • While in Cienfuegos, Cuba, students were able to visit one of Cuba's beaches.
    While in Cienfuegos, Cuba, students were able to visit one of Cuba's beaches.
  • Andrew McClung '19 does a mock interview with a host of Radio Habana Cuba, while on a tour of the radio station.
    Andrew McClung '19 does a mock interview with a host of Radio Habana Cuba, while on a tour of the radio station.
  • Visiting the Universidad de la Habana (University of Havana), the oldest university in Cuba.
    Visiting the Universidad de la Habana (University of Havana), the oldest university in Cuba.
  • Dr. Finney and students with locals who they played baseball with at Ernest Hemingway's home.
    Dr. Finney and students with locals who they played baseball with at Ernest Hemingway's home.
  • Students enjoyed the sunsets and their stay, while at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cienfuegos.
    Students enjoyed the sunsets and their stay, while at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cienfuegos.
  • Overlook of Valle de Viñales from the Hotel Los Jazmines.
    Overlook of Valle de Viñales from the Hotel Los Jazmines.
  • Stopping on the Cadillac tour at Plaza de la Revolución (Revolution Square), the political and administrative center of Cuba.
    Stopping on the Cadillac tour at Plaza de la Revolución (Revolution Square), the political and administrative center of Cuba.

The purposes of this trip are threefold:

  1. study Cuban culture, especially the consequences of the success of the Cuban Revolution and embargo that the US imposed on Cuba in 1960.
  2. develop a documentary film about Cuba, featuring aspects of Cuban life and culture and comparing representations of Cuba in the US with first-person experiences while visiting Cuba.
  3. study Spanish with an intensive classroom and homestay experience.

Through an analysis of readings and films, the intensive study of Spanish, and by creating a documentary film based on a 15-day stay on the island,  this course, through first-person experiences, will reflect on and confront our preconceptions of Cuba and how they came to be formed and how they correspond with reality.

This program enhances the opportunity for students to develop real-world experiences in communicating in Spanish (at any level) along with film production and media writing by immersing them in a documentary project. At the same time, the project aids students in developing the scholarly media studies skills by presenting them with a problem of distinguishing between reality and mediated representations.

group photo

 

Beautiful overlook from the top of a building in Trinidad, Cuba Beautiful overlook from the top of a building in Trinidad, Cuba

I believe that there is no country in the world—including any and all the countries under colonial domination— where economic colonization, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, in part owing to my country’s policies during the Batista regime. I approved the proclamation which Fidel Castro made in the Sierra Maestra, when he justifiably called for justice and especially yearned to rid Cuba of corruption. I will even go further: to some extent it is as though Batista was the incarnation of a number of sins on the part of the United States. Now we shall have to pay for those sins. In the matter of the Batista regime, I am in agreement with the first Cuban revolutionaries. That is perfectly clear.” — U.S. President John F. Kennedy, interview with Jean Daniel, 24 October 1963

Meet Our Alumni

  • <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/700-linda-coutant"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/350_b06bdc398b23aa435f6aae8e73873040_f1835.rev.1500320522.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/350_b06bdc398b23aa435f6aae8e73873040_f1835.rev.1500320522.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/350_b06bdc398b23aa435f6aae8e73873040_f1835.rev.1500320522.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="690" data-max-h="390" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/700-linda-coutant"><p> Coutant to Serve on National Board after Opening Non-profit Restaurant</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> A 1989 Emory & Henry graduate has teamed up with members of the Boone, N.C. community to start a non-profit restaurant aimed at helping to relieve hunger in Watauga County.</p><p> Linda Coutant and her partner, Chris May, have joined with other residents of Boone to start the F.A.R.M. Cafe, which stands for Feed All Regardless of Means. The pay-what-you-can restaurant opened in May 2012 to help relieve the issue of hunger in Watauga County – where nearly 25 percent of the population lives at or below the poverty level.</p><p> As a founding board member, Linda was responsible for public and media relations and was involved in fundraising. She did a series of local media interviews, led a team of Appalachian State University students in creating communication pieces to bring attention to the cause, developed a website and interior signage, and helped raise more than $65,000 to get the cafe started.</p><p> As a result of her involvement, she has been invited to serve on the national board of the One World Everybody Eats Foundation starting in 2013. The Foundation is an outgrowth of the first pay-what-you-can restaurant in Salt Lake City, Utah – also called One World Everybody Eats. The Foundation helps communities across the United States start and maintain their own non-profit, pay-what-you-can restaurants to help alleviate hunger</p><p> F.A.R.M. Cafe is located in downtown Boone, in the historic Boone Drug building on King Street. It serves lunch only and runs almost entirely on volunteers. Patrons can pay what they can toward a suggested price, pay a little more than the suggested price to help their neighbors in need, or volunteer for an hour in the café in exchange for a meal. The cafe’s menu changes daily and offers nutritious meals made primarily from local sources.</p><p> “I was attracted to this business model because it was innovative and added a new dimension to how we solve the issue of hunger in the United States,” Linda said. “So far, F.A.R.M. Café is working. It serves on average 75 people a day for lunch. Each month, more than 70 of these individuals work in exchange for a meal for themselves or their families – people who otherwise might not have a hot meal. We’ve also built partnerships with local farmers and other organizations toward strengthening our local food system.”</p><p> While at Emory & Henry, Linda majored in mass communications and was a former president of Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity and editor of The Whitetopper. She lives in the Boone area and works as an editor/writer in Appalachian State University’s University Communications office.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/700-linda-coutant" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
  • <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/676-tyrone-bachman"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,685,386/271_Screen_Shot_2017-06-08_at_11.52.56_AM.rev.1496937201.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/png" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,685,386/271_Screen_Shot_2017-06-08_at_11.52.56_AM.rev.1496937201.png 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,685,386/271_Screen_Shot_2017-06-08_at_11.52.56_AM.rev.1496937201.png" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="685" data-max-h="386" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/676-tyrone-bachman"><p> Tyrone Bachman ’98 Directs Atlanta Television Station to Emmy Gold</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> An Emory & Henry mass communications graduate was recently honored with an Emmy Award for his outstanding efforts in live sports coverage. Tyrone Bachman, E&H class of 1998, and WXIA 11Alive received an Emmy award for Best Live Sports Show.</p><p> Bachman served as the technical director for the show “Falcons Game Day Live” which airs on the NBC affiliate in Atlanta, Ga. He gives credit for much of his success to his former professor and mentor, Dr. Teresa Keller, chair of the E&H Mass Communications Department, who he calls “the backbone of my dedication to my career.”</p><p> “I remember a time in Dr. Keller’s class when we had to do our resume and then pass it around the classroom, and I only had football on my resume.” After a long conversation with Keller, he became inspired to pursue additional activities that reflected his wide variety of interests, including the Multi-Cultural Society, E&H Gospel Choir, the campus newspaper staff and staff for the campus radio station.</p><p> “It’s my great joy in life to watch former students become outstanding professionals, and Tyrone Bachman could be Exhibit A,” said Keller. “He made a very wise choice to get serious about his career during his senior year, and this Emmy makes it very clear that he has become a great success. The kind of work he does requires rapid fire thinking while juggling a lot of information in a high-pressure situation.”</p><p> Bachman joins a growing list of Emory & Henry alumni who have been honored with Emmy awards. That list includes:</p><p> Jay Webb (E&H class of 1999) – meteorologist, WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va.<br/> Joel Hilton (E&H class of 1998) – photojournalist, WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Va.<br/> Eric Scott (E&H class of 1985) – photojournalist, WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Md.<br/> Bonnie Wood (E&H class of 1990) – promotions producer, WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C.</p><p> “I’m so very, very proud of Tyrone, of the other award winners from this department, and of all of our graduates who are doing good work and making this world better,” added Keller.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/676-tyrone-bachman" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
  • <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/695-marika-katanuma"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,350,332/345_9f9c447b28ffba96f88152703eb9ebd9_f6458.rev.1500313660.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,350,332/345_9f9c447b28ffba96f88152703eb9ebd9_f6458.rev.1500313660.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,350,332/345_9f9c447b28ffba96f88152703eb9ebd9_f6458.rev.1500313660.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="350" data-max-h="332" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/695-marika-katanuma"><p> Marika Katanuma (E&H ’16) Lands Job with Yahoo!</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Marika Katanuma graduated in May of 2016, and by June of 2016 she had an exciting update for the E&H Alumni Office. “I finally got a job! I will be an editor at Yahoo! Japan.”</p><p> Marika is a native of Tokyo, Japan, who completed a double-major in mass communications and sociology Emory & Henry in only three years. She came to E&H because she says she “simply wanted to learn English and the culture of Southwest Virginia. I know many Japanese and other international students go to the west, like California or the north like New York and Massachusetts. But, I thought that doesn’t represent the experience in the states. I wanted to experience something different.”</p><p> She is back in Tokyo now, but while here she dove into studies, and began to discern her true interests. “I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I came to Emory, but the education I got and the people that I met during my college years made me realize that I love all sorts of communications.” She compiled an impressive online portfolio that includes examples of her writing, interview skills, and video news reporting, and she says she feels like the information she shared in the interview about her Emory & Henry experiences helped her get the job in Tokyo.</p><p> We aren’t sure why she said, “I finally got a job” – because in fewer than 30 days, she has landed a job with one of the largest corporations in the world! “I will be editing the start-page of Yahoo! Japan website that includes many services, like online news, shopping, and search engine. I am excited to contribute to the job to improve people’s lives through the power of internet and information.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/695-marika-katanuma" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>