Using "Film Sociology" to Engage a Broader Audience

Dr. Tukufu Zuberi explains his concept of "film sociology."

Tags: media, documentary, film, film sociology, public sociology, 21 to 60 mins
Year: 2013
Length: 46:06
Access: YouTube

Summary: This video lecture is from Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, an acclaimed sociologist, host of PBS' History Detectives, award winning documentary filmmaker, and museum curator. In the video, he defines and gives examples of a concept he calls "film sociology." He describes this as using film "as a space for a kind of critical sociology, a way to engage people to understand their world in a way that allows them to critique it and make it better." His commentary discusses the importance of using individual biographies in film to teach the sociological imagination, the role of visual narratives in scholarship, the choices of visual and audio in communicating empirical research, the importance of using film to tell a narrative that helps us to understand our social context, and his experiences in making film for documentaries and television. This video is the 2013 Fritz Nova Lecture at Villanova University.

Submitted By: Tukufu Zuberi

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