Web Series by Eli Laban, Learn to Count in an Endangered Language
Web series – SP17
More information about the project here:
https://elabancbk.wixsite.com/mysite
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Curatorial Statement by Dr. Adrienne Shaw:
Eli Laban’s “Learn to Count in an Endangered Language” is the ongoing legacy of his work as an MSP major and Temple Honor’s student. It draws on his media production and documentary film training from MSP, internship experience with NBC ten, and two study away experiences with Klein College’s Global Opportunities Program (South Africa and Nicaragua). The project itself was part of an independent study he completed during his study away experience in Nicaragua. The web series teaches viewers about three endangered languages from that country: Miskito, Rama, and Garifuna. The videos are short, engaging, and provide the context for why and in what ways these languages are at risk of disappearing. His work on this project earned him the Alice Rowan Swanson Fellowship from School for International Training to continue developing the series and documenting these languages that could otherwise easily disappear. He also won a national College Emmy. He also screened two of the videos at the International Association for Media and Communication Research at the 2017 conference in Cartagena, Colombia. And merging theory and practice, Eli presented an academic paper about his film series at the 2017 Temple Undergraduate Research Forum-Creative Works Symposium (TURF-CreWs), where he had earlier presented a paper about a documentary he did in South Africa. The series as a whole represents what an attentiveness to social theory, production skills, and social justice can accomplish.