In this hybrid event, Simone Drake, James Phelan, Robyn Warhol, and Lisa Zunshine use theoretical approaches from their respective fields of research to comment on recordings where eight African-American women were invited to tell two stories each about everyday racism. One story “focused on a situation in which she felt discriminated against but was able to overcome, and another, focused on a discriminatory situation that she felt she was not able to overcome.” Collectively the women’s stories provided 1) powerful testimony about the ways African American women experience racism as an inescapable part of their lives—and sometimes as a force that radically changes their lives; 2) experience-based demonstrations of how pervasive systemic racism is and how it relies on power differentials that are baked into institutions such as schools, law enforcement, the health care system as well as into the management of businesses; 3) extensive evidence of the prevalence of white people’s implicit and explicit biases in their everyday interactions with African American women; 4) countless signs of the stress and trauma that accompany and follow from experiences of racism; and 5) considerable evidence of the women’s resilience as well as their unending need for it, as they continue to feel the negative effects of experiences that occurred many years ago. The stories were recorded and uploaded on YouTube.
This event showcases four different theoretical approaches—African American storytelling (Simone Drake), narrative as rhetoric (James Phelan), feminist narratology (Robyn Warhol), and cognitive cultural narratology (Lisa Zunshine)—where these scholars reflect on the still-ongoing project and its theoretical, professional, and personal ramifications. As they unpack the complex skill involved in the women’s handling of so many elements of their narratives, they also identify the effects this handling generates in their listeners, and the larger thematic significance of those effects. The presentations conclude with reflections on the value of the women’s storytelling: how they are sometimes cathartic for the women; how they highlight the importance of listening—and the possibility of misunderstanding—and how, if they and others like them were widely disseminated they would be a force to counteract the structural racism they so vividly expose.
The Zoom link can be accessed here.
Meeting ID: 925 8218 5611
Password: 838658
