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James Chase Sanchez, Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Middlebury College, shares how he challenges students to think beyond traditional forms of communication—exploring storytelling through documentary film, sound, and visual composition. 

With a deep commitment to ethical storytelling and student growth, Sanchez reflects on the power of narrative and the transformative impact Middlebury students can have on the world.

Transcript

My name is James Chase Sanchez. I’m an associate professor of writing and rhetoric here at Middlebury. For the writing and rhetoric program here, we don’t have a major or minor, so a lot of our courses are cross listed in other disciplines, be it something like gender, sexuality and feminist studies, black studies, history of art and architecture and so on.

[Sanchez in the classroom] There’s no way to capture some of these scenes. They just could not exist in another film. So it’s letting us get a glimpse of reality that we know we couldn’t get.

[Back to the interview] Where I really try to push students is that there’s communication and persuasion happening outside of the written and spoken language. So in documentary, the score, the way that you piece images together with one another, the way that all of these mix together to create a compelling narrative. And I feel like as an educator, what I always want to show them is 1, stories are just as important now as ever. And 2, there are ethical ways of sharing these stories.

[Working with a student] But I think the embodiment of the grueling nature of this is also fine. So any way we can get the audience to be a part of that, I think it’s fine.

[Back to the interview] Working with Middlebury students is one of the greatest pleasures of my life. I think these students are finding ways to make sure the work that they’re doing is important. They want to be thoughtful actors in their real world. They want to have an impact. And you see that across the classroom space.

[Student speaking in classroom] The animation kind of contributes to kind of shield the viewer from…

[Back to the interview] Having a place that can cultivate great students that go out to the world and create change is the most important function that a college could have, in my opinion. And that’s something that is the reason I’m still here, and I think is the reason that every other teacher who is a part of this campus is still here because we want to make sure that that future exists for every student who walks through that door.