Media and Idea Lab

Days With(In) Film Series

Films developed in the “Video as Inquiry” course with Prof. Frances Negron-Muntaner offered by the CSER. In response to the pandemic, self-isolated in each of their homes, students reflected and inquired about the world around them in their films.

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MIL featured in Films for the Feminist Classroom Journal

Media and Idea Lab’s Frances Negrón-Muntaner speaks with Elisabetta Diorio in a special feature in the Films for the Feminist Classroom Journal discussing feminist film pedagogy.

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The Media and Idea Lab

The Center’s Media and Idea Lab (MIL) consists of a series of courses and programs that employ media, particularly visual media, as a mode of inquiry. Key in this effort is the development of a “lab” environment in which students, faculty, and visitors can jointly participate in trying out ideas and creating knowledge communities through media. Students can also develop different types of projects, including curatorial, video, and web.

The MIL is a partnership with the Digital Humanities Center (DHC). The DHC provide space for postproduction, instruction on editing and related software and equipment. The DHC also serves as co-host for some public programming and provides space for meetings, screenings, and other activities. Presently, MIL’s components include student and faculty projects, public programming, and new courses.

Faculty Projects

The first completed project is Small City, Big Change, a video, and policy brief released in collaboration with Hispanics in Philanthropy today. The video shows how the Latino leadership of Chelsea, Massachusettss smallest city, proved to be decisive in the historical passing of the State’s Transgender Equal Rights Bill in 2012.

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Student Projects

AlterNative Education is the subject of a CSER video-in-progress documenting their work as they examine reservation drop-out rates in the classroom, develop alternative curricula to increase retention, and create education opportunities in three New Mexico reservations. Read more

The Media Working Group is composed of eleven graduate students whose academic research may be portrayed using film, sound and/or performance, among other media. Read more

Gallery at the Center

Founded in 2012, Gallery at the Center’s mission is to show artistic and thematic exhibits around the Center’s key areas of interest, including immigration, citizenship, national formations, labor, public space, race, ethnicity, and/or indigeneity.

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