Say it Forward: A Guide to Social Justice Storytelling

by Cliff Mayotte (Editor), Claire Keifer (Editor)

Overview

Oral history is a universal form of storytelling. For many years, Voice of Witness has shared powerful stories of people impacted by injustice with a broad audience of readers. Say It Forward extends this work, offering a DIY guide for social justice storytelling that outlines the critical methodology at the core of Voice of Witness’s evocative oral history collections. Field reports candidly detail how to harness the power of personal narrative to expose larger issues of inequality.

Cliff Mayotte is the education program director with Voice of Witness. He previously edited The Power of the Story: The Voice of Witness Teachers Guide to Oral History.

Claire Kiefer is the author of Bear Witness. She was a Voice of Witness curriculum specialist and currently works at the Georgia Capital Defender.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608469581
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	12/18/2018
Series:	Voice of Witness
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Cliff Mayotte is the education program director with Voice of Witness. He previously edited The Power of the Story: The Voice of Witness Teachers Guide to Oral History.

Claire Kiefer is the author of Bear Witness. She was a Voice of Witness curriculum specialist and currently works at the Georgia Capital Defender.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Making the Invisible Visible

Section One: Conducting Community Oral Histories: Approaches, Methodologies, and Ethics

History on a Human Scale

Types of Oral Histories

1. Historical or Cultural Memory Transfer
2. Community or Neighborhood History
3. Addressing Injustice or Seeking Change through Oral History
4. Oral History in Educational Settings

Essential Questions and Ethics

1. Oral History: An “Experiment in Equality”
2. Why Should I Share My Story with You? Ownership, Identity, and Storytelling
3. How Do I Find Narrators for my Oral History Project?
4. Creating Safe/Brave Spaces for Sharing Stories
5. Protecting Narrator Safety
6. Power, Privilege, and Representation in Oral History
7. Outsider/Insider Dynamics
8. Changing Directions in Oral History Projects
9. Editing Oral History Transcripts: Honoring Your Narrator’s Voice
10. Self Care, Compassion Fatigue, and Developing a Capacity to Listen to Difficult Stories

Section Two: Community Oral History Case Studies

A Note on the Case Studies

1. Behind the Wire: Mandatory Detention in Australia by Andre Dao and Sienna Merope
2. OG Told Me by Pendarvis Harshaw
3. After the Disaster: Rebuilding Lives and Communities in Fukushima by Jon Funabiki
4. Re-entry Stories: Life after Prison and Jail by Claire Kiefer
5. Unsettled: Relocating After Katrina by Eric Marshall
6. Our Town, Our Stories by Cliff Mayotte
7. Resilience: Elders in East Harlem by Lauren Taylor
8. DREAMers Testimoniando by Shelby Pasell
9. Tales of Tar Sands Resistance by Stephanie G. Thomas
10. Cycles of Domestic Violence by Ashley Jacobs 225
11. Project LRN (Listening to Residents and Neighbors) by Genevra Gallo-Bayiates
12. Long Live The King: Fishing in Santa Cruz Harbor by Katie Kuszmar

Section Three: Community Storytelling and Oral History Resources

1. Getting Started: A Quick Guide to Setting up Your Oral History Project
2. Media Options for Sharing Stories
3. Oral History Resources
4. Trauma & Self-Care Resources

Acknowledgements

About Voice of Witness

About the Editors/ About the Contributors

Editorial Reviews

Stories are humankind’s connective tissue, and Say It Forward reminds us the process through which we document a story is as important and powerful as the story itself.”

—Lauren Markham, author of The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life

“Say It Forward provides not only a practical blueprint for storytelling methodology and approach, it does something more meaningful—it contextualizes and validates the purpose and multilayered nuances of capturing deeply personal accounts.”

—Linda Sotelo, New Americans Museum

“Oral history changes lives. Claire Kiefer and Cliff Mayotte have made a profoundly clear, fluid, and accessible guide to doing your own oral histories, and teachers, students, and parents: I beg you to try it.”

—Dave Eggers, Voice of Witness cofounder and author, The Monk of Mokha and What Is the What

“Say It Forward is a useful guide for anyone new to recording the oral histories of vulnerable populations. Voice of Witness makes plain how to work with sensitivity, respect, and care.”

—Danielle Jackson, cofounder, Bronx Documentary Center

From the Publisher