BLM STORYTELLING:

A collaborative, cross-course student project

The Black Lives Matter collaborative storytelling project aims to underscore the persistence of racism and injustice in the United States. This project draws from critical race theory, storytelling strategies and inclusive media practices that provide students the tools to reflect on their understanding and experiences about race, racism, and racial justice, particularly as it pertains to Black Lives.

As a way of fostering collaborative and meaningful learning through remote instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic, this multimedia cross-course collaboration brings together students from both the TSOC 265: Race and Ethnicity in the United States and TCOM 347: Television Criticism and Application courses. Students participated in collective group discussions about the structural inequality that the Black Lives Matter movement addresses. They practiced their storytelling skills by producing creative content, such as written stories, videos or other forms of creative work that highlight their experiences related to race, racism, and/or racial justice.

Through reflection and critical thinking, students have offered their voice, perspectives and feelings about the broader issues surrounding Black Lives at this moment in history.  They have also developed a deeper awareness about their own positionality in relationship to these issues that is reflected in the stories they share. Most importantly, students considered how to disrupt racism in their everyday experiences and imagined a different, better world together.