“How do we honor our stories enough to quiet the voices inside [that tell us our voices don’t matter]?” -Dr. Laura Biagi
This summer Professor Erin McCloskey and I, Marissa Desir ’25, learned about rehumanization through storytelling. Done remotely, we jumped eagerly into this budding research project, fascinated yet inquisitive of each concept. The intention was to recognize the impact of exchanging personal narratives as a transformative pedagogical approach and its role in strengthening relationships within the triad of home, school, and community through its ability to reconstruct barriers surrounding social identities.
Furthermore, the inclusion of this method within classrooms involving those incarcerated (or formerly), and local university students. Our time spent emphasized the value of self-authorship as a form of resistance against dominant power structures and as, a tool for forming authentic and constructivist learning environments with students at the core of the curriculum.
From the beginning, there was a need to gather research from all forms of media such as books, peer-reviewed articles, TedTalks, and documentaries to represent the multimodal storytelling that would take place. We then developed an annotated bibliography that would factor in creating an applicable framework that could be sent to the Institutional Review Board. As the project was in its early stages, we were able to discuss how to create positions of strength within the classroom for different types of narratives. While also discussing the possible drawbacks of confining this approach to an academic setting and addressing the dangers of exchanging traumatic stories. Ultimately, this call to exchange allows for reinterpretations and inclusive solutions that prompt community engagement, activism, and identity-making.
As Professor McCloskey continues her work, I thank her for allowing me to contribute over the summer and acquaint myself with a topic I now harbor a passion for.