Narrative and Community Building:

Narrative and CommunityBuilding: 11.948
Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00
CRN classroom
Instructors: Natasha Freidus tashafr@mit.edu and Ceasar McDowell ceasar@mit.edu
Office hours to be arranged
http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/11/fa03/11.948/index.html

Course Description:

Throughout history, story has been used to teach, to entertain, to express, to advocate. and to organize. It is through the sharing of stories that communities build their identities, pass on traditions, and construct meaning. This course will examine the role of narrative as a tool for community organizing and development. Current applications of storytelling in a variety of contexts will be discussed and analyzed. This course will also explore the potential of multimedia technology to support the use of narrative in traditionally marginalized communities. Students will collaborate with community organizations to develop a multimedia narrative. Please note, multimedia skills are not required for this course.

Goals:

Students will come away from this course with a deeper understanding of the theoretical and practical issues involved when using story as a community-building tool.
Students will also leave the course with direct experience in creating a media-based story with a community organization.

Required Texts:

Dyson and Genishi. The Need for Story National Council of Teachers of English, 1994. (Available on special order at Brookline Booksmiths or www.amazon.com )
Davis, Joseph. Stories of Change: Narrative and Social Movements State University of New York, Albany: 2002. (Available at www.powells.com, or www.amazon.com )
Lambert, Joe. Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community Digital Diner Press, Berkeley: 2002 (available at www.storycenter.org)

All texts will be also available on reserve at Rotch Library, other readings will be available on PDF format on Stellar site

Assignments:

Short Assignments: For the first half of the semester, students will employ different media to create a series of short stories. The three assignments include the following:

-         Written autobiography – Write 3-5 pages about yourself

o       Due by email before midnight the night of Monday September 8 (or uploaded to class site).

-         Conduct an audio oral history with a family member, or with the person of your choice about family.

o       Due September 24. Digital format encouraged, all formats acceptable, 5 minutes maximum.

-         Create a brief photo essay of a community you have lived in.

o       Due October 8. Digital or hard copy acceptable. Hard copies must be smaller than 8x11. Maximum 8 pages/slides.

Final Project: The second half of the semester will provide students with the opportunity to collaborate with the organization of their choice to develop a story. Students will select the medium/a with the organization. Group work is encouraged. Students are also encouraged to work with a community organization that they are already familiar with. Depending on need, a limited number of skill based workshops in web-design, sound, image, and video editing will be offered outside of class. Details to be discussed in class.

-         Project Planning form due October 8

-         Project Proposal due October 15

-         Final project due December 10

-         Final viewing to be scheduled

Reflection Journal: Students will keep a reflection journal documenting choices, issues, and exploring the connections between their work with readings and other examples from practice.

Due every other week beginning September 17 to course site.

Syllabus:

	Approach/Questions	Readings and Examples from Practice	Assignment
Week 1 September 3	Narrative and Community Practice
Week 2 September 10	Why narrative?	Required reading • Dyson and Genishi The Need for Story Chapter One • Kearney, Richard, On Stories: Thinking in Action Routledge, London:2002. Chapter One, Where do Stories come from • Davis, Joseph. Stories of Change, Chapter one.	Autobiography due
Week 3 September 17	Stories and the individual,	Required Reading/preparation • Bruner. “Life as Narrative” Chapter 3 in The Need for Story • Eakin, Paul John. How our Lives Become Stories. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1999. Chapter Three View compact disc • Paull, Caleb. Self-Perceptions and Social Connections: Empowerment through Digital Storytelling in Adult Education Choose either Chapter 4 or 5 and view accompanying story.	Journal Entry due
Week 4 September 24	Stories to record history:	Required reading • Slim and Thompson. Listening for a Change: Oral History and Community Development. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1995. Chapters 1 and 4 • Shostak, Marjorie. “What the Wind Won’t Take Away” in Perks and Thompson (eds.) The Oral History Reader London: Routledge, 1998. Ch 34. Recommended reading • Wigginton, Elliot. Refuse to Stand Silently By. New York: Doubleday, 1991. • Relying on Ourselves, the Spirit of Rural Community Development http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/121/Pearson.html Required viewing: Choose 1 of the 3 websites • http://www.soundportraits.org/in-print/books/the_forgotten_ones/ • What did you do during the War, grandma http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/tocCS.html • http://themavericksite.org	Oral history due
Week 5 October 1	Stories as Art Part 1: Traditional arts Jane Sapp, Guest speaker (tentative)	Required Reading • Belenky, Mary. A Tradition that Has no Name. New York: Basic Books, 1999. Chapter 9, pp. 229-258. • Community Arts Network. Connecting Californians: Finding the Art of Community Change http://www.communityarts.net/concal Recommended Reading • Boal, Augusto. Theater of the Oppressed New York: Theater Communications Group, 1970. Chapter 4, “Poetics of the Oppressed”. Required Viewing Jane Sapp documentary. Screening to be held out of class	Journal Entry due
Week 6 October 8	Stories and Art Part 2 : Technology Liz Canner, Guest Speaker (tentative)	Required Reading • Lambert, Joe. Digital Storytelling Introduction and Chapters 1-3 • Freidus, Natasha and Hlubinka, Michelle. “Digital Stories for Reflective Practice in Communities of Learners” web.mit.edu/crcp/research.html Required Viewing • Symphony of a City www.symphonyofacity.org • Capture Wales http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/capturewales/	Photo essay and project planning sheet due
Week 7 October 15	Stories and Social Movements: The Civil Rights Movement	Required Reading • Davis, Joseph (ed.) Stories of Change: Narrative and Social Movements Chapter 2, pp. 31-52 “Plotting Protest” and chapter 9, pp.203-229, “Movement advocates as Battered Women’s Storytellers” • Eyes on the Prize Viewing in class	Final Project Proposals Due
Week 8 October 22	Stories for advocacy and organizing	Required Reading(Choose 2 of the following 4) • Pule, Lyn, et.al. Telling it Like it Was http://www.newvillage.net/Journal/Issue3/3pyle.html • Chapter 4, “Getting our Histories Straight” in Stories of Change • Valley Interfaith Case Study: http://www.creativenarrations.net/thesis/individual.html and Chapter 3, page 8-10. • Penchaszadeh, Analía. Tell me a story: How a community-based organization learns from its history through reflective storytelling Masters Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT, 1994. Chapter 2 pp 29-57. Required Viewing • Third World Majority http://www.cultureisaweapon.org/ • Broken Sky www.duedu/~mimcdowe/index_flash.html	Journal Entries due
Week 9 October 29	Stories and Youth	Required Reading: • Miller, Peggy and Mehler, Robert. “The Power of Personal Storytelling in Families and Kindergartens” pp. 38-52 in The Need for Story • Heath, Shirley Brice. “Stories as Ways of Acting Together” pp.206-220 in The Need for Story Required Viewing (Choose two of three) • Llano Grande Project http://www.pbs.or/pov/pov2002/borders/pdf/pov_borderrs_lesson_two.pdf • SoundPortraits http://www.soundportraits.org/on-air/ghetto_life_101/ • Alaskan Native Youth Cultural Community Building http://lone-eagles.com/bartsgrant.htm
Week 10 November 5	Stories to understand conflict	Required Reading and Viewing • Appreciative Inquiry and Community Development http://www.iisd.org/ai/ (read text and view stories) • Japanese and Arab American’s stories http://www.itvs.org/facetoface/intro.html • Arab-Israeli Stories http://www.cctvcambridge.org/stream/qt/chyme	Journal Entries due
Week 11 November 12	Stories and Urban Planning	Required Reading • Forrester, John. The Deliberative Practitioner MIT Press, Cambridge: 2001. Chapters One and Two. • Simmons, Michelle. “The Role of Narrative in the Process of Inclusion” in McDonald et.al (eds.) Building Diverse Communities, Applications of Communications Research Cresskill, NJ : Hampton Press, 2002. • Stories and Sustainability reading (on order) Required Viewing • A New Harlem Gentry in Search of its Latte http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/07/garden/07HARL.html • Camfield Estates Stories website to be announced.	Storyboards Due
Week 12 November 19	Review and discussion session
Week 13 November 26	No Class
Week 14 December 3	Workshop and Reflection
Week 15 December 10 Last Day of Class	Final Presentations, Part One		Final Presentations Due

Week 1

Week 2

Required reading

Required Reading/preparation

View compact disc

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Required Viewing

Week 9

Required Viewing (Choose two of three)

Week 10

Week 11

Required Viewing

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15