Using True Storytelling in the Classroom as a Tool for Exploring Racialized Emotions

• In Event: 2222 - Teaching and Learning Symposium Roundtable Session
  In Informal Discussion Roundtable: Table 01. Teaching About Race

Abstract

Focused on the theme of the 2018 ASA Annual Meeting, Feeling Race: An Invitation to Explore Racialized Emotions, I propose sharing my experience with storytelling as a pedagogical tool in my sociology classes on gender and sexualities, where students are asked to tell true stories about their experiences “doing gender” or “learning about sexuality.” This assignment gives students the opportunity to connect theories and concepts they learn in class with their own lived experiences. I will discuss how this assignment helps students to “explore racialized emotions” as it encourages them to think about the ways that race and culture have influenced their sense of masculinity and femininity as well as their sexuality. Outside of writing and literature departments, the creative act of storytelling is not often considered a legitimate form of knowledge production in the academy. My discussion will demonstrate how storytelling can be used to decenter dominant forms of knowledge—what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls the “Single Story”—by bringing into question how truth is determined, building coalition among divided groups, embodying theoretical frameworks, and giving voice to those who are often silenced by power (Ngozi Adichie 2009). In addition to describing and analyzing the way I use storytelling to educate, I will provide practical ideas for teachers to develop storytelling assignments in their classrooms.

Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda. "The Danger of a Single Story." Online video clip.Ted.com. Ted, filmed July 2009. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.

Author

• Mary Anna Robertson, California State University-San Marcos