Creating social change is an avowed goal of many Tufts students, and for some, photography - through the portrayal of narratives and conflicts - is an effective way of doing so. Such is the mission of the Program for Narrative and Documentary Practice (PNDP).
This program, facilitated by the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL), will begin its second full year this fall under the leadership of accomplished photojournalist Gary Knight and photographer Samuel James (LA '09).
Knight founded the PNDP after teaching a class for the Experimental College called "The Concerned Photographer" in 2010 and working with the IGL's EXPOSURE program. James became involved after working with Knight as a student.
According to Knight, the PNDP seeks to provide an interdisciplinary education in forming multimedia narratives, with the ultimate goal of creating change.
"It takes students from lots of different disciplines and introduces them to the practice of storytelling," he said. "It takes them out into the world and immerses them in the lives of others. They study narrative nonfiction writing, audio, video and stills."
This yearlong course consists of two separate seminars, one each in the fall and spring semesters. They are taught by James and Knight, respectively.
"The first semester you focus on technical work. You learn to use equipment with [James]," junior Nicola Pardy said. "The second semester you take on your own independent project under [Knight]'s mentorship."
Independent projects include various storytelling methods. Pardy and Alisha Sett (LA '12) both created long-form magazine pieces centered on different subjects.
"I chose the elderly community," Pardy said. "Basically, for these projects, you need to be a fly on the wall, sit, observe and watch."
Sett took a completely different approach.
"[My project] was about a Pakistani family that had immigrated to the U.S. and had recently taken over a grocery store in Teele Square," Sett said. "I was documenting what that journey meant for them."
Participant Matthew Rosen (LA '12) focused his multimedia project on a veteran soldier and how he readjusted to civilian life after returning from Afghanistan.
"We hung out a lot, and we just became really good friends," he said. "I tried to tell his story of what it's like to come back from that sort of environment and re-adjust. [The project] includes interviews, photographs and videos from Afghanistan from [my subject's] headcam."
The PNDP experience concludes with a final summer workshop. This year, the group traveled to Burma for 10 days to carry out independent projects. Both Pardy and Sett agreed that the trip was a very meaningful and impressive experience.
"I ended up doing a series of portraits - I basically wanted to understand Burmese culture through a bottom-up approach," Pardy said. "I photographed people in the streets, and asked them the same set of questions, and I took a portrait of them in their place of work."
For the benefit of students involved, the Advisory Board that Knight assembled for the PNDP includes over 20 members ranging from accomplished writers, historians, journalists and photographers to experienced alumni. The members of the Board take on a mentorship role to the PNDP participants.
"The Advisory Board would come in different weeks and tell us about their general life experience," Rosen said. "They would present their work. And if someone had specific questions, [Knight] would be really good at putting people in contact."
Knight offers his students many opportunities for extra experience and internships in the area of multimedia journalism. Pardy cited her current internship at the blog Ground Truth with Knight and journalist Charles Sennott of the GlobalPost.According to PNDP participants, studying with accomplished professionals such as Knight and James had a large influence on their interests and work. Students connected with James in particular, as his interest in photography began and flourished at Tufts.
"I started studying photography as a student. I was really motivated by the stories I was telling and photography was more of a tool to communicate these stories," James said. "I was working in Nigeria ever since I was an undergraduate, and I lived in Lagos. I worked for the New York Times - that's what I do when I'm not teaching here."
James published the longest photo essay in Harper's Magazine's history on Nigeria's fuel trade. He was awarded the first Alexandra Boulat Award for Photojournalism, given by the IGL and VII Photo Agency, during his time at Tufts. This award honors the legacy of Knight's friend and colleague, photojournalist Alexandra Boulat.
The EXPOSURE program provides another outlet for PNDP students outside of the classroom, as an extracurricular complementary to the course. Knight was involved with EXPOSURE prior to creating the PNDP.
"[Knight's] idea was that these [EXPOSURE] students need[ed] more training," co-leader of EXPOSURE CharmainePoh, a senior, said. "[EXPOSURE] is run under the IGL as the program for photojournalism, documentary studies and human rights. It was started to utilize the power of telling stories for human rights."
Poh encourages students of all experience levels to join EXPOSURE and enroll in PNDP. She joined EXPOSURE as a freshman with no previous photography experience, and also participated in PNDP last year.
EXPOSURE offers weekly meetings and weekend getaways to New Hampshire and New York, as well as lengthier photography workshops. Co-leader of EXPOSURE Katja Torres, a senior, is especially thankful for her time in an EXPOSURE workshop in South Dakota.
"You get to go on a trip with other students who are just as passionate as you are about photography," Torres said. "We stayed on the Lakota reservation looking at the injustice and human rights issues concerning Native Americans in the United States."
According to Torres, the workshop ended with an exhibition of the photo narrative created by the students.
"It was a hurrah to their culture, a tribute to them and thanking them for allowing us to be there and welcoming us into their reservation life," she said. "A large portion of the community came and had a dialogue with us."
This kind of experience is a hallmark of both groups. In the future, both programs also hope to provide more opportunities for students. EXPOSURE is looking into expanding multimedia formats and the PNDP hopes to expand to include a symposium and websites for projects and lectures. According to Knight, this also includes looking abroad.
"What I would love to do is make available our learning tools to people in countries where such learning tools are not available," he said. "I'd like to have an event bringing in the world's leading non-fiction storytellers Tufts is focused on engagement with the world. I think that's one of the things that differentiates Tufts from everywhere else. It's nice to bring the world out there to the campus sometimes."
The American Survey is another of Knight's and the PNDP's future projects. As Knight sees it, the American Survey is a multimedia archive of the quintessential American experience. Students' work will be incorporated into the project.
"We are basically building an archive that carves a slice out of America life now, and this will make it available as research for academics and students in future years," Knight said. "I want them to record languages, dialects, recount stories of people that have experiences in work practices that won't exist in 20 years. It's about building something that will be more interesting in 50 to 60 years time."
For many past participants of PNDP, the experience has made a significant impact on their lives and plans for the future.
"It's strange for me to think about how much the PNDP has changed the way I look ahead," Sett said. "I'm working on a book project right now using the skills I learned from the program. I've fallen in love with photography and hope it can be a big part of my work in the future."
Rosen, who currently works as an engineer in Seattle, hopes to continue making photography a part of his life.
"I'm still involved. I'm editing my project at night in whatever free time I have," Rosen said. "I also want to integrate it with any work I do now, which is building for people in developing countries. I hope this can be integrated with documentary photography and storytelling to convey issues in some way and to create some intervention."
For Pardy, the class has not only changed her future but her time at Tufts as well.
"My interest developed as I took the course," Pardy said. "And now, I'm considering it as a future career. It's honestly the best experience I've had at Tufts."
