Episode 58: Shaping the American Identity

Published: Dec. 8, 2016, 9:21 p.m.

b"Today's interview-only episode of the show is all about student documentaries that explore the elusive and contentious nature of American identity. Host Tom Breen is joined in the studio by Rena Tobey, who teaches an Honors College-level course at Southern Connecticut State University called \\u201cShaping the American Identity.\\u201d As the semester nears its conclusion, she has given her students the opportunity to satisfy their final project requirements by creating short documentaries that explore some of the themes covered in the course. We\\u2019ll talk with Rena and two of her student documentarians, Evie Jenkins and Emory Farb, about the scope of this course, some of the challenges of being a student filmmaker, and trying to use documentaries to better understand what it means to be an American."