DER announces the release of VAL a thirty minute film on DVD. OAK PARK STORIES which are reflexive ethnographic explorations of Oak Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb - one of the most successfully integrated places in the U.S. Employing interactive and digital technologies these portraits present an anthropological perspective of this “social experiment” through written and video portraits of African American, lesbian and WASP families and an institutional portrait of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, the core of the community’s integration maintenance polices. Additional information about this research project can be obtained at astro.temple.edu/~ruby/opp.

VAL (a 30 minute film on DVD) is an Oak Park Story about Val’s Halla, an independent record store that is a cultural institution in Oak Park. For thirty plus years Val has offered her customers an incredible array of recorded music from classical to rap, both new and used. In addition, the collective knowledge of Val and her staff makes it possible to carry on an informed conversation about music and recordings. Concert information is always readily available. As these cultural founts of musical knowledge are being rapidly replaced with Wal-Marts where employees know nothing about music, Val’s Halla has become part of the disappearing commercial landscape of small businesses run by knowledgeable people interested in what they sell. In this film, Val talks about the changing role of the record store and muses about what Oak Park looks like from the vantage point of its counterculture.

OAK PARK STORIES is authored by Jay Ruby, a recently retired visual anthropologist, who has spent the last forty years exploring the relation between culture and the visual/pictorial world. He has published numerous studies about photography, film, popular culture and produced several ethnographic films and also founded graduate and undergraduate program in the anthropology of visual communication at Temple University. OAK PARK STORIES is the culmination of his interest reflexivity as the village is also his hometown as well as American cultures.

“Jay Ruby has long espoused the use of visual data as a powerful tool for academic research. In his Oak Park Stories he has provided a clear example of how his theories can work and bridged the gap between visual and mainstream written anthropologies. “Prof. Sarah Pink, Anthropology, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK.

The CD-ROM is available from DER for $29.95 or $49.95 for any two OAK PARK STORY CDs.

VAL will have its world premiere at the Oak Park International Film Festival at the Oak Park Public Library on September 15th.