URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Spring_2018_Melissa-McCarthy

Kendall Moore Professor Departments of Journalism and Film Media Harrington School of Communication and Media pictured with undergraduate student Gyasi Alexander, majors: marine biology and journalism.

Kendall Moore, University of Rhode Island (URI) journalism professor and filmmaker tackles difficult social and political issues around racism, health, gender, and the environment in her films. Since joining the department in 2003, she has released numerous films including: Song in the Crisis (2007), Sovereign Nation/Sovereign Neighbor (2006), The Good Radical (2009), Sick Building (2014), Philosophy of the Encounter (2015), and Jalen and Joanna: A Lead Paint Story (2017). Moore says that both of her parents encouraged her creativity as well as her focus on social issues. Her step- dad served in the Peace Corps, in Ecuador, and worked closely with Quechua speaking indigenous communities. Her mother, an organizational psychologist, was one of the first African Americans to graduate from the University of Maryland. “Both of my parents have always had a lot to say about power and inequality,” Moore says. “I see my focus on certain problems as an extension of serious conversations I had with them starting in my early childhood.”

“The community saw documenting their culture on film as a way to ensure the

continuation of some of their rituals and practices. At that moment, I could see the positive impact of my film work, and I was hooked.”

- Kendall Moore

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