The Power of Storytelling and Storylistening for Human Learning and Becoming

Abstract

Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities have always endeavored to ensure their own survival and thriving despite broad scale systems of domination. Researchers focused on the empowerment of Black, Brown, and Indigenous children continue to design cultural pedagogies that reach to transform understandings of historical, present-day, and future relations. We build upon this legacy by further theorizing the role that stories and storywork play within (1) sense-making activities, (2) the lives of communities that we have been a part, and (3) our own lives as researchers-storylisteners across time and place. We take a syncretic approach, bringing together learning sciences research and perspectives from Black and Indigenous studies on the acts of creating, telling, and listening to stories. We consider the multiple roles of stories in research and design, the political/ethical nature of stories, and how storywork can re-organize power relations in ways that support individual and community life.