I submitted my proposal for the Allied Media Conference http://alliedmedia.org/ was accepted!
The conference is in Detroit, Michigan from June 23rd-26th, 2011. I was inspired to propose this
workshop after I had attended the CIMS (Coalition for Improving Maternity Services) Conference in March in North Carolina. Specifically the workshop was called Through the Looking Glass: Breastfeeding in the Media and the presenter that moved me to action was Katherine A. Foss, PhD, Professor of Journalism, Middle Tennessee State University. As a Media Studies major myself, I realized I have the basic skills and technology to produce short quick mini-videos. My friend Karla Chueh-Mejia insisted that I find a way to participate in AMC this year, and soon I made the connection between the need for videos representing the underrepresented and the forum of AMC as a
place where this need can be co-created.
Here's the description of my workshop, which is part of the Shawty Got Skills Skillshare. It's called, "Representing Ourselves via DIY Videos" and here is the description: Entertainment-based education increasingly shapes our views about breastfeeding, birth, and more. On TV and YouTube, representations focus on white people in a hospital setting, extreme cases, and dependency on medical experts, thus increasing the disconnect—especially for communities of color—from simple, traditional approaches to breastfeeding. In this workshop, we'll discuss of issues of media representation and breastfeeding/birth topics, and then work together to CREATE videos about our own experiences with breastfeeding and birth-related topics to change the landscape of what is visible and accessible.For accurate representation babies and children will be needed for this workshop, so I'm asking participants to please bring theirs, along with their knowledge as mamas and parents!
The workshop is cross referenced in these tracks at the conference:
INCITE! / ¡INCITE!
Eco-Media for Survival & Sustainability / Eco-Medios para la
sobrevivencia y la sustentabilidad.
Health is Dignity, Dignity is Resistance / Salud es dignidad,
dignidad es Resistencia.
