West Editions
Video Interviews: University of North Texas
Videos
National Park Service
Selections: 2014-15 Fulbright in India (excerpts)
In May 2016 a double-hulled canoe called Hōkūleʻa, a replica of an ancient Polynesian vessel, sailed down the Potomac River to dock at the Washington Canoe Club in Washington, D.C. Without modern instruments and guided only by the sun, sea and stars, Captain Kalepa Baybayan of the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) charted the canoe from Hawaii up the Atlantic coast to D.C. to participate in BioBlitz 2016, a National Park Service Centennial celebration.
National Park Service wildlife veterinarian Michelle Verant shares expertise on bats and White Nose Syndrome, and engages with BioBlitz participants at the NPS Centennial celebration on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 2016.
Eerie chirps erupted from an acoustic detector placed near the creek bank at Rock Creek Park on a full moon night in spring. Bat songs! Visual frequencies of their echolocation calls, called spectrograms, danced across the monitors. The BioBlitz2016 bat inventory at Rock Creek Park had begun, and the bats were flying near.
Each place has its own soundscape—unique combinations of sounds from animals, plants, rivers, and features in the environment that make each place sound different from the next.
Media Art and Documentary
This 10-minute sample video, which features a selection of footage captured in India during my Fulbright, shows how various subjects could be integrated into a proposed feature length documentary. The final film would additionally contain animation segments, historical re-enactments, archival footage, wildlife surveillance technologies, geospatial data visualizations and maps, and many other components.
Indian music ensemble Inidani Mannamakkala Honnapadagagala Balaga performs live at the 2015 Mahadeshwara Jatra in the Kabini area near Hosahali, Karnataka. Bridging past with present, the talented ensemble of vocalists, percussionists, flutists, keyboardists, and other musicians perform contemporary, pop music arrangements based on centuries-old folk stories and songs. Themes of nature are a recurring subject in the troupe’s repertory.
Interview excerpts profile Belinda Wright, Director of Wildlife Protection Society of India, in conversation with 2014-15 US-India Fulbright Scholar Julie West about the illegal wildlife trade in India, and WPSI strategies for engaging local communities in the conservation dialogue.
Each year villagers gather in celebration of music, dance and prayer to honor the saint Lord Sri Mahadeshwara and his tiger companion/vehicle in a local jatra (festival) in Kabini near Hosahali in the Mysore district of Karnataka, India.
"Nothing is wasted. Everything is either a vegetable or a medicinal plant ... everything you can consume." Enjoy this 10-minute video tour of a 1000 year-old permaculture forest in the Western Ghats of India with Pandu Hegde, leader of the Appiko sustainable movement, Mahabaleshwara Hegde, permaculture guide, and Julie West, 2014-15 Fulbright Scholar and filmmaker-journalist.
Julie encounters Maya, a tigress in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra, while on the trail with Wildlife Institute of India researchers, forest officers and guests as part of her 2014-15 Fulbright project studying tiger conservation. Coal mining outside the park and a high rate of human-animal conflict are among the pressures impacting Tadoba's habitat, tigers and other wildlife.
Interview excerpts between Julie West, 2014-15 Fulbright Scholar studying tiger conservation in India, and Prerna Sharma, a research biologist studying wildlife conservation at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, with large carnivore expert Dr. Yadvendradev Jhala as faculty advisor. Prerna talks about her prior experiences working at Wildlife SOS in Agra, where she worked to rehabilitate dancing sloth bears, and she reflects on experiences at WII and in the field at Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Conversation excerpts on the trail with tribal forest officer Rajan in Periyar Tiger Reserve, Kerala, India. 2014-15 Fulbright
This tusker was the first wild elephant in India I saw up close and personal — captured here in the beautiful Bandipur National Park of Karnataka. 2014-15 Fulbright appointment.
Large carnivore expert Yadvendradev Jhala, professor of biology at the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun, gives an overview of the role WII and his colleagues play in assessing tiger populations and advising the government in matters related to tiger conservation policies and on-the-ground strategies in forests across India.
Dr. Nanditha Krishna is an educator, author and Univ of Madras scholar of ancient Indian culture whose research is at the intersection of ecology, folk and spiritual traditions. Sacred Animals of India and Sacred Plants of India are among the books she has authored. As president of the C.P. Ramaswamy Foundation, Chennai, she oversees educational outreach programs that raise environmental awareness, preserve and present folk traditions, and promote literacy among children and adults.
Parabita Basu, Senior Research Biologist at the Wildlife Institute of India, discusses WII's role in the All India Tiger Monitoring effort and her work conserving migratory corridors to protect tigers and other wildlife. The conversation was recorded as part of 2014-15 Fulbright Scholar Julie West's research project studying tiger conservation in India.
Video Interviews: Spectra — University of North Texas (reference only)
This 10-minute sample video, which features a selection of footage captured in India during my Fulbright, shows how various subjects could be integrated into a proposed feature length documentary. The final film would additionally contain animation segments, historical re-enactments, archival footage, wildlife surveillance technologies, geospatial data visualizations and maps, and many other components.
Each place has its own soundscape—unique combinations of sounds from animals, plants, rivers, and features in the environment that make each place sound different from the next.
Excerpt Version Among the first wave of food films, From the Root Up is a documentary that weaves mythical, historical and contemporary perspectives on stewardship and food, from indigenous harvest rituals and sustainable farming to large-scale agribusiness and fast food consumption. Distinguished awards include a Virginia Museum Fellowship and David Wolper Award from the International Documentary Association.
Full-length Version Among the first wave of food films, From the Root Up is a 30-minute documentary that weaves mythical, historical and contemporary perspectives on the subject of stewardship and food, from indigenous harvest rituals and sustainable farming to large-scale agribusiness and fast food consumption. Distinguished awards include a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship and a David Wolper Award from the International Documentary Association.
A couple enjoy a romantic evening of conversation and gooseberry pie in this poetic portrait of cross-species love.
Sketch for documentary integrating historical, mythical and contemporary traditions and anecdotes centered on Santa Claus.
This group of diverse, sharp International Baccalaureate students at the Armand Hammer United World College in Las Vegas, New Mexico, explore literary meaning in their "Texts and Contexts" class. This is an excerpt from a longer educational documentary that profiles six model classes that illustrate International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) language and literature curriculum concepts.
The premiere episode of Spectra features Chris Anderson, (former) Assistant Research Professor of Biological Sciences in conversation with Leslie Robertson, Lecturer of Fibers and Weaving in the College of Visual Arts and Design. They discuss aspects of ecology, conservation and cultural traditions based on Anderson’s work in Chile at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park and Robertson’s work in Uganda.
Guests Miguel Acevedo, Regents Professor of Electrical Engineering, and Ruthanne "Rudi" Thompson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, share a 12-year history of collaborative projects that involve the environmental sciences and engineering. Their work creates a synergy among schools and local, state, and federal agencies in order to build energy-efficient and sustainable communities.
UNT researchers Armin Mikler, Professor of Computational Epidemiology in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Sudha Arlikatti, Associate Professor of Emergency Management in the Department of Public Administration, are working to develop new tools and strategies to address natural disaster and emergency management.
Priscilla Connors, Associate Professor of Nutrition Education and Eating Behaviors in the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management, and Michael Gibson, Associate Professor of Communication Design in the College of Visual Arts and Design, discuss issues related to nutrition and health and how design can fundamentally shape perceptions surrounding these and other issues.
In this episode West joins Priscilla Ybarra of English, and Valerie Martinez-Ebers of political science, in conversation about issues of community, environmental and social justice, politics, and identity as these relate to Chicana/Chicano and Latina/Latino communities in the United States.
Martin Halbert, Dean of UNT Libraries, and Idean Salehyan, Associate Professor of Political Science, discuss the merits of digital scholarship— an emerging trend in the humanities and social sciences where new methods of research are harnessing the power of computers and specialized software to analyze massive amounts of digitized content.
UNT guests Richard Nader, Vice Provost for International Affairs, and Arup Neogi, Professor of Physics, discuss the ways in which university educators engage research colleagues in other countries, and the role university offices play in facilitating and enhancing educational exchange.
Patricia Glazebrook, Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies, and Cullen Hendrix, (former) Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, discuss the politics of food, food security climate change, and farming, with a focus on Africa.
Guests Nada Shabout, Associate Professor of Art History at UNT, and Robert M. Figueroa, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion Studies, discuss issues of cultural heritage, identity, and justice from art historical and philosophical perspectives.