October 19, 2005

Ethnographic Films Exploring Diversity And Cultural Issues
Will Be Presented Oct. 28 At UCSD's Cross-Cultural Center

By Jan Jennings

Eye on the Community: Ethnographic Film at the University of California, San Diego will be presented from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 28 in the Cross Cultural Center at UCSD. The event is open to the public.

The films will focus on diversity and cultural issues including queer identity, bi-nationalism, immigration, home schooling, the UCSD Muslim community, and women of color in California’s criminal justice system.

Sponsored by the Department of Sociology, the program was spearheaded by the department’s graduate coordinator Rafael D. Acevedo. Sociology professor Bennetta Jules-Rosette and sociology faculty fellow Cristin McVey will facilitate open discussions.

Participating filmmakers include UCSD sociology graduate students Lisa Nunn, Jodie Lawston, Tanya Kravatz, Charlene Bredder, Heidi Hoechst, Michael Esposito, Devon Smith and J.R. Osborn.

Nunn’s film is an ethnographic look at the issues a bi-national gay couple face. Kravatz and Lawston feature women who devote their lives to raising public consciousness about the abuse female inmates endure. Bredder’s film focuses on a family who has chosen to home school their three children. Exposito and Hoechst examine the phenomenon of living history performance at two San Diego tourists attractions, and Osborn and Smith include images and interviews with members of the UCSD Muslim Student Association.

UCSD’s African and African-American American Studies Research Project is co-sponsoring the event which also is supported by the Office of Graduate Studies and Research and UCSD Student Community Centers.

For further information contact Acevedo at (858) 534-4626 .

Media Contacts:
Rafael D. Acevedo (858) 534-4626, or Jan Jennings (858) 822-1684