Profiles
Lewis Hine Documentary Fellows Program
Lewis Hine was a father of the documentary photography tradition who used creativity as a means to build awareness around issues of social justice. In response to the abuses of child labor during the early 20th century, his photographs allowed him to connect with the children he documented, while exposing the world to their experiences and exploitation.
Alex Harris (photo credit: Jeremy M. Lange), as co-founder of the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) and a professor of Public Policy, knows that connecting within communities is crucial to documentary work. And, as the founder and Creative Director of the Lewis Hine Documentary Fellows Program, Harris has been providing Duke graduates the opportunity to combine their passion for creativity and community since 2002.
The Hine Fellows Program grew out of Sanford Institute of Public Policy’s Hart Fellows Program. Harris sees the two as connected because the documenting of social problems, as Hine demonstrated in the 1930s, can ultimately inform policy change. The Fellows certainly care about change:
“We’ve had the privilege of being connected to the cream of the crop of Duke graduates and the graduates of the CDS certificate program. Our Fellows have had a fantastic education and could do almost anything, but they have been drawn to use their creativity to engage with communities and create powerful documentary projects,” says Harris.
Through the 10-month Fellowships, awarded to Duke and CDS Continuing Education Certificate graduates, Fellows are placed with a non-profit organization, live in the community served by that organization, and document important social issues.
The program requires that Fellows be skilled writers, photographers or videographers so they can use their skills to capture the communities as they find their own solutions to unique social challenges. Ideally communities benefit as much as the Fellows from these projects, as many Fellows create public awareness materials desperately needed by local organizations.
The intention in connecting Fellows and communities is finding a “goodness of fit” between graduates and the organizations with which they work. If the Fellows have one thing in common it is that they want to make a difference, connecting with and learning from people different than themselves. “They work in a collaborative spirit”, says Harris.
Elena Rue, a Fellow who worked in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, focused her project on families impacted by HIV.
“[One] continues to learn from [the experience]. It shapes what I do now, and probably will for the rest of my life”.
The 2009 application deadline for Hine Fellows is in January.
Further information:
Lewis Hine Documentary Fellows Program
Hart Fellow Program
Alex Harris
Elana Rue
