Storytelling as Activism: A Speaker Series
The Writing Center @ MSU in partnership with the East Central Writing Center Association (ECWCA), presented our 3rd speaker series “Storytelling as Activism.”
Storytelling, a shared act between tellers and listeners, has the potential to shape not just what we think, but how we think and make meaning together. As Andrea Riley-Mukavetz says, “story is theory” (110).
Stories aren’t just a way to exchange information but a way to inform cultures, change individual and collective actions, create community, and transform public opinion. Stories are a way of knowing. Stories are also a way into feeling and experiencing alongside others, leading us into a knowledge that is personal, living, and engaged.
This speaker series ended with the keynote speaker for this year’s ECWCA conference “Critically Imagining Writing Centers: Stories, Counterstories, and Futures,” hosted by the Writing Center @ MSU in celebration of our 30th year.
With talks from Dr. Lamar Johnson, Dr. Travis Webster, Dr. Andrea Riley Mukavetz, and ending with Dr. Aja Martinez’s keynote address at the East Central Writing Center Association conference.
Videos of these talks are available on our YouTube channel.
Dr. Lamar Johnson
“Blackness Is, Blackness Ain’t: Racial Storytelling as Activism”
Dr. Travis Webster
“Queerly Centered Stories: LGBTQIA+ Writing Center Leadership, Twenty-First Century Activism, and Disciplinary Sustainability“
Dr. Andrea Riley Mukavetz
“An Affinity for Spiky Things: Stories on Making Indigenous Space in Higher Education”
Dr. Aja Martinez
“The Responsibility of Privilege: A Critical Race Counterstory Conversation for Allies and Accomplices”