About the Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Expression
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture in the College of Liberal Arts offers the M.F.A. in Documentary Expression. It combines interdisciplinary coursework with advanced training in photography, film, and audio production in order to tell compelling and nuanced stories of a complicated region and world.
The M.F.A. program requires students to already have an M.A. degree in the fields of humanities, social science, or journalism.
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture has a long history of engaging in documentary work, beginning with the Center’s founding in the 1970s by documentarian William Ferris, who explored Southern culture through film and photography. Today, many of the Center’s interdisciplinary faculty use documentary methods in their own research and teaching, and undergraduate and graduate students have produced photography and a number of films and oral histories.
Faculty and staff at the Southern Documentary Project and the Southern Foodways Alliance play a major role in instructing and mentoring students in the M.F.A. program.
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Program Information
Degree
M.F.A. in Documentary Expression
Required Credit Hours
30
Program Type
Master's Program
Program Location
School
Duration
2 years
Meet the Graduate Program Coordinator for Documentary Expression
Please contact me directly with any questions you might have about the Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Expression program.
Melanie Ho
Assistant Professor of Practice
M.F.A. in Documentary Expression Program Details
Learn about the application process, academic requirements, and financial support available to you.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: rolling; February 1 for funding
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture welcomes student applications.
- Complete the Graduate School’s Online Application.
- Upload Supplemental Application materials for the Center to the link provided by the online application.
Students in the M.F.A. in Documentary Expression complete 30 credit hours of coursework, including 21 credit hours of courses and 9 credit hours of thesis credit.
- S St 601: Graduate Seminar I
- S St 533: Fieldwork & Oral History
- S St 610: M.F.A. Seminar
- S St 633: M.F.A. Fieldwork
- at least one of the following
- S St 534: Documentary Photography
- S St 537: Documenting the South in Film
- S St 538: Advanced Documentary Film
- enrollment in S St 699: Documentary Workshop every semester
Students who enter the program with an M.A. in Southern Studies from UM may apply 6 hours of that degree for S St 533, 534, 537, 538, or 601, but they may not repeat classes taken for credit while earning the M.A.
Students complete a written prospectus and a final project in the form of photography, film, oral history, audio recordings, or some combination thereof, plus a written component. They pass an oral defense in order to complete the degree.
Students who apply by February 1 will be considered for an assistantship. Students with a graduate assistantship funded in the Center receive
- a scholarship that covers some or all of the tuition and non-residency fee, if applicable, for regular semesters
- subsidized health insurance.
For more information, visit the Graduate Programs webpage for the Center.
The Graduate School’s financial aid webpage also lists a variety of funding possibilities.
Center for the Study of Southern Culture
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