A trailer for a film by Criticality Management Consulting, on their research, executive briefing, and thought leadership series on diversity within corporations.
An award-winning documentary on European immigration to the United States around the turn of the twentieth century.
James, Steve and Gordon Quinn. 2004. The New Americans. New York: Cinema Guild
A seven-hour video series documenting the experiences of recent immigrants from five different countries—Nigeria, Palestine, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and India.
Jen Holladay, president of the Highline Academy Charter School, gives a Ted Talk on understanding and embracing multiculturalism and teaching cultural competency to students.
A Ted Talk by Andrés Tapia, reminding us that “diversity” is not just about “them” but also about ourselves—asking why we think and believe the things we do and how we can learn about ourselves by knowing others.
A famous African American scholar offers a critical perspective on multiculturalism, arguing that promoting differences actually holds back disadvantaged groups.
The first part of the first episode of an important BBC series about the origins and history of racism, especially its relation to slavery in the United States.
Dr. Edmund Gordon on the Causes of the Achievement Gap
The first episode in a classic series on race and the civil rights movement in the United States.
Bracey, John and Sut Jhally. 2013. How Racism Harms White Americans. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation
A video lecture by African American scholar John Bracey summarizes the history of race in the United States, connecting race to class and gender struggles and illustrating how delusions of race distort politics and damage whites and blacks, men and women, alike.
Chinhema, Brian. 2010. Multiracial Identity. Oley, PA: Bullfrog Films
A film examining historical notions of race and the persistence of racial categories by way of the U.S. government’s census statistics, focusing on the movement to introduce a new classification category—“multiracial”—as a solution for quantifying the increasing number of diverse individuals with mixed racial parentage.
Dougherty, Lynn. 2004. Understanding Race. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
An educational film that disarms the familiar but misunderstood phenomenon of race, mixing scientific and historical perspectives with humanistic and humorous elements to create a balanced and engaging program.
Gayles, Jonathan. 2011. White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books. San Francisco, CA: California Newsreel
A film about race representations of black superheroes by major comic book publishers, focusing on the 1960s and 1970s but mentioning contemporary black comic writers and comic book conventions today.
Hurt, Byron. 2006. I am a Man: Black Masculinity in America. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation
A film consisting mainly of interviews with ordinary black men and women—but also celebrities and scholars—that explores the challenge of being a black man in contemporary American society.
Jhally, Sut and Dave Zirin. 2013. Race, Power, and American Sports. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation
A conversation with sports writer Dave Zirin regarding issues of race and gender in contemporary sport.
Rocklin, Jeremy. 2007 Dollars and Dreams: West Africans in New York. Watertown, MA: Documentary Educational Resources
A documentary film on the pursuits and challenges of numerous West African immigrants as they confront the idea of the American Dream and the reality of the New York experience.
Stoney, George C. 1963. The Newcomers. Watertown, MA: Documentary Educational Resources
A film about economically disadvantaged white Appalachian people in transition from the South to northern cities; made in the 1960s, issues of immigration and learning how to live with people who are different from you are as timely and critical as ever.
A short video featuring Arab American individuals struggling to live and explain their identity, especially after 9/11.
Alshaibi, Usama. 2012. American Arab. New York: Cinema Guild
A personalized look at the experiences of the filmmaker (an Iraqi American) and other American Arabs, illustrating the complexity of Arabs, Islam, and America in contrast to the simplistic stereotypes of the people and the religion that descend from the Middle East.
Dubois, Michel and Kevin McKiernan. 1990. The Spirit of Crazy Horse. Boston, MA: WGBH Educational Foundation
A wonderful video covering Native American history and cultural revival, told from the perspective of contemporary Lakota elders.
Froriep, Nina. 2010. Abraham’s Children. New York: Cinema Guild
A documentary illustrating that young Muslims in America struggle successfully to integrate their American identities and their Muslim identities—and that Muslim youths are not only normal people but hold may of the attitudes and values that other Americans wish they could instill in their children.
Goldsmith, Paul and Ernesting Ygnacio de Soto. 2009. 6 Generations. Watertown, MA: Documentary Educational Resources
A moving portrayal of six generations of one Chumash (California) family that relates the intimate lives of native people to global/colonial forces, discovering the lingering hole in the hearts of these people and many of the indigenous peoples of the world.
Gutiérrez, José Roberto and Elia Castillo. 1998. Ties that Bind: Immigration Stories. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities and Sciences
An educational documentary depicting the lives of Mexican American immigrants and the local and international forces that drive immigration and the immigration debate.
Osband, Noam. 2014. Adelante. New York: Filmakers Library
A film about a Catholic church in a town outside Philadelphia, where new Mexican immigrants, older Irish parishioners, and a creative Irish-American priest have forged a mutually inclusive community and bonds of friendship and understanding.
Richie, Chip and Steven Heape. 2008. Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School. Dallas, TX: Rich-Heape Films
A memorable discussion of the history and impact of the boarding school era on Native American individuals, families, and societies.
Thompson, Charles D., Jr. and Michael Davey. 2010. Brother Towns/Pueblos Hermanos. Oley, PA: Bullfrog Films
A documentary about the struggles facing residents of two distinctly different towns located in two vastly different countries and the interwoven connections that have formed between them.
A half-hour video from KPBS San Diego on the threatened middle class in southern California—where almost 40 percent of jobs do not pay enough for workers to live in the city.
A half-hour documentary from Journeyman Pictures on the hardships facing America’s middle and working classes, as incomes stagnate or fall—claiming that almost 50 percent of working Americans are economically insecure.
A film depicting gender roles and relations in two critical eras—the 1980s and the era of the parents and grandparents of 1980s young adults.
Clark, Nicole. 2011. Cover Girl Culture: Awakening the Media Generation. New York: Women Make Movies
Psychologists, lifestyle experts, and motivational speakers join forces to explore and condemn the mediated and sexualized images fed to young girls in modern America—images that keep them feeling bad about themselves and keep them purchasing lifestyle products that promise beauty and happiness.
Jhally, Sut. 2007. Dreamworlds 3. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation
A powerful film that explores messages about gender, sexuality, bodies, and violence in contemporary music videos, with some sobering and frightening details and conclusions.
Jhally, Sut. 2009. The Codes of Gender. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation
A documentary study of gender images in contemporary advertising, through the lens of Erving Goffman’s role-and-display model as elucidated in his book, Gender Advertisements.
Jhally, Sut. 2010. Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation
A study of the use of women’s bodies to sell just about everything, promoting an almost impossible-to-attain idea of beauty and sexuality focused on very young, very white, and very thin models.
Keith, Thomas. 2011. The Bro Code: How Contemporary Culture Creates Sexist Men. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation
A hard look at the dominance in American culture of the image of the “bro,” the womanizer or hegemonic male who damages women along the way and, in the process, damages himself.
A segment from the Oprah Winfrey show, discussing intersex individuals.
Dominguez, Alan. 2011. Photos of Angie: A Tragedy in Five Acts. New York: Third World Newsreel
A transgender young woman is killed in Greeley, Colorado, where the family worries that the conservative district will not pursue a hate-crime charge against the suspect, let alone convict him of a gender-related crime, in the first state to enact hate-crime legislation.
Minax, Madsen, Simon Strikeback, and Malic Amalya. 2009. Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance. New York: Outcast Films
Musicians of many styles and genders discuss their creative and performance process, as well as the process of transitioning between genders. They remind us that gender is a journey and a performance for all humans—and not the only aspect of our private identities or public personas.
Nibley, Lydia. 2009. Two Spirits. New York: Cinema Guild
Based on the story of a young gay/berdache/two-spirit Navajo man who was murdered for his gender nonconformity, the film explores Native American concepts of gender, the gay and alternative-gender movement in the U.S., and the intolerability of gender intolerance.
Walton, Pam. 1996. Family Values: An American Tragedy. Mountainview, CA: Pam Walton Productions
Filmmaker Pam Walton reflects on her own alienated family in the light of her father Rus Walton's participation in the Christian Reconstruction movement and the “values” that cause his rejection of her lesbianism.
Walton, Pam. 2006. Gay Youth: An Educational Video. Mountainview, CA: Pam Walton Productions and New Day Films
This short film deftly leads the viewer through the lives (and in one case, the death) of gay youth in contemporary America, portraying them as normal kids facing abnormal social pressures.
Chapter 8 Audiovisual Materials
Sociolinguistics: The Study of Variation in Language
A short video on American Hinduism, presented by the chaplain of the Chicago Police Department and designed to increase cultural awareness among law enforcement officials.
Religion in America #36: America’s Religions—ch. 39, Native American New Religions
A documentary about the decline of the “golden age” of childhood when children were free to play, even without parental supervision, and the rise of managed childhood.
The New Science of Adolescence: Understanding Risky Behavior (part 1)
A short discussion of federal legislation in the interest of older Americans, a law from the civil-rights era that guaranteed support and services for senior citizens.
A Ted Talk about physical and health diversity, discussing deafness, Downs syndrome, “little people,” and disabled children, emphasizing love and acceptance.
