Instructor: Kathleen Haughey, VFC Director of Education
Price: $95

Storytelling, oral history, and ethnography can be powerful tools for the documentation of voices, memories and histories. They can also be catalysts for activism and social change. In this workshop we will explore the ethics and techniques of oral history, ethnography, and storytelling as activist research methodologies. Attendees will be introduced to these three merging methodologies through a combination of short media pieces and discussions, and will learn the basics of corresponding skills such as interviewing, story circle facilitation, and ethnographic observation. We will also cover the technical aspects of storytelling for social change, providing an introduction to minimal resource audio recording tools. 

This workshop is intended for students, community members, and staff members of non-profit cultural, community and social-service agencies interested in developing collaborative documentary or storytelling skills. In addition to developing attendees’ collaborative research abilities, this workshop seeks to expand attendees listening skills—and by extension, interviewing skills—while also encouraging attendees to consider the challenges, possibilities, and ethics of representation. The workshop will conclude with a discussion of project ideas.