students
Campania In-Felix (Unhappy Country) Trailer from Ivana Corsale on Vimeo.
Ivana Corsale is a graduate student in documentary studies at The University of North Texas. CSID is providing funding for the completion of her thesis film Campania In-Felix (Unhappy Country).
Film's synopsis: For nearly two decades, Campania, the southern region of Italy where Naples is located, has witnessed an ongoing practice of illegal toxic material dumping in rural and inhabited areas. The management of waste material in the region has been in the hands of the Camorra - a mafia organization with vast economic and political power. Campania In-Felix (Unhappy Country) will explore the presumed connection between waste, health, environment and ecomafia in the area of the Triangle of Death between the towns of Acerra, Nola and Marigliano, recognized by local doctors as the most polluted area of the region.
Jonathan Parker is doctoral student in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies at the University of North Texas. He is also a graduate research assistant with CSID. He received a $2,000 research grant to participate in the 2008-2009 interdisciplinary course Tracing Darwin's Path: "Field Course in Sub-Antarctic Conservation: Terrestrial and Marine Biocultural Ecosystems" As a graduate student course participant, Parker reflected on how the disciplines of ecology and philosophy integrated in this partiuclar course, as well as on how successful this course was as an exercise in interdisciplinarity and what lessons could be learned from the perspective of a student participant.
J. Fredrick "Fritz" Dent, an anthropologist and MFA student in Documentary Film Production, received a $2,800 fellowship from CSID to participate in the recent UNT field course, Tracing Darwin's Path: Sub-Antarctic Bio-cultural Conservation, as both student and filmmaker. Dent comments: "The trip was a great opportunity to collaborate with other scholars and have an adventure in Cape Horn. The combination of social sciences and media production with interdisciplinary research in biology and philosophy is exciting and expands the audience for new knowledge." A short film, Convivencia, about his experience in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve is in post-production. Fredrick Dent was recently awarded a $2,000 grant from the UNT Center for Spanish Language Media to continue his work in Chile.