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Storytelling Project
Aims to Help NYC High School Students Deal with Racial Issues
New York,
NY—An innovative Storytelling Project to help high school
students understand and deal effectively with racial issues
through stories and storytelling, has received a second grant
of $100,000 in support from the Third Millennium Foundation.
Developed by Barnard College Professor Lee Anne Bell in collaboration
with artists, public school teachers, other academics, and
Barnard students, the program will be implemented in six classrooms
at three schools this coming fall.
Bell plans
an intensive one-week summer institute to introduce the Storytelling
Project curriculum and activities to teachers. According to
Bell, the participating schools are being selected right now
and many schools have expressed interest. The institute will
engage teachers in experiencing the curriculum as students,
helping them develop facility and comfort with using different
art forms to explore stories about race, and discussing ways
to fit the curriculum into their ongoing teaching in social
studies and English classrooms. The curriculum links to New
York State learning standards for these two curriculum areas.
During
the 2005-2006 school year, members of the team, including
Barnard student interns, will monitor the progress of the
storytelling curriculum by observing classes, holding focus
groups with students, and eliciting teachers' opinions. This
research will be used to revise the curriculum so that it
may be expanded and implemented more widely in coming years.
The Storytelling
Project began when Bell was researching the way that "gatekeepers"
— teachers, administrators, and counselors who often
play significant roles in shaping the ideas of young people
— dealt with questions about race and racism. In interviews,
she realized that gatekeepers can either limit or expand opportunities
for students depending on the perspectives they (the gatekeepers)
hold about racial issues.
Bell said
many of these authority figures would use stories to amplify
their views about race. She was able to categorize these stories:
some were "stock stories" that ended to justify
a status quo perspective rooted in color blindness and the
belief that social progress has mostly eliminated racism;
others were "counter narrative stories" that confirmed
the ongoing existence of racism and the need for further action
to challenge it.
"The
type of story gatekeepers tell often shapes the way they respond
to racial problems in their schools and to student concerns
about the racial issues," said Bell.
"A
story is such powerful vehicle — that is how we transmit
culture. We are using all the vehicles of telling stories
to address race and racism from arts, visual arts, poetry,
music to dance — all conduits that young people are very
tuned into, and we are drawing from that excitement,"
said Bell. "Ultimately, we hope to develop new stories
to lead us to a more just society."
Bell initially
received $100,000 from the New York City-based Third Millennium
Foundation, a private, not-for-profit foundation, to gather
a "creative team" of artists, teachers, and Barnard
students to explore how storytelling could be used to connect
with young people on issues of race and tolerance in society.
She categorized
stories into four different "groups:" stock stories,
the common and oft-repeated stories that maintain the status
quo of a culture; concealed stories, the stories that challenge
and critique the stock stories but remain hidden; resistance
stories, or stories from historical and modern times that
show people who have fought against racism; and counter-stories,
which are made by students with the intent of deconstructing
traditional racial dialogues. The team created a curriculum
that teaches students about these stories and encourages them
to develop their own stories in order to build a "storytelling
community."
In class,
the storytelling theme and story types are developed through
a series of activities that engage students in exploring stories
about race historically and in contemporary life. Students
will be encouraged to think critically about the stories and
to develop new stories to address racial issues in their schools
and communities.
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Contact:
Petra Tuomi, 212-854-7907, ptuomi@barnard.edu
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