tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6040963216366130807.post3048956631433362498..comments2008-08-04T01:03:35.673-04:00Comments on DSUP: the Doctoral Students in Urban Planning blog: On Storytelling, Privilege, Individual Pride, and Yes, Finally, a Work Presented in ChicagoUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6040963216366130807.post-26971034732930179922008-08-04T01:03:00.000-04:002008-08-04T01:03:00.000-04:00Hi Jessica,Interesting blog. Wish I coulda' been ...Hi Jessica,<BR/><BR/>Interesting blog. Wish I coulda' been there to hear Marisa discuss her paper.<BR/><BR/>Yes, storytelling is a tricky thing because it can be used to reinforce many stereotypes (and I remember Reardon and Sandercock appropriate the song by Mavis Staples to introduce his presentation - I bristled too for reasons I'll keep to myself for now). <BR/><BR/>I want to add a little something to what you wrote. With the right skill and consciousness, storytelling can be a very liberating tool. But, beware. A good story/storyteller has the courage and power to tell and expose truths, and, from the time we are infants, many of us are learning to distort truths (often to avoid punishment or rejection). So, distortions and denials are more common than truthtelling - and this is true for academicians. Think about it: does data report the truth, or does it reinforce a certain supposed hypothesis or bias that is not really concerned with truths? When truth narratives are told in the academy, we should expect discomfort and/or chaos because truthtelling is not THAT popular among academicians (in fact, it is often discouraged for tenure's sake). I hope that will change in the twenty-first century. <BR/><BR/>That said, the narratives that challenge and/or disrupt white heterosexual male power/privlege can exist powerfully, alongside the privileged ones. I heard Troy Duster suggest this about two years ago; it reminded me of the wise saying that goes, "let the wheat and tare grow up together." Duster is the grandson of Ida B. Wells, the late nineteenth century anti-lynching advocate (some have actually named her as one of the nation's first sociologists). He is also a very distinguished scholar and the former prez of the American Sociological Association. <BR/><BR/>My theological training and my experience as a United Methodist minister has helped me to understand the wheat and the tare metaphor with some grace, because there is absolutely no way to stop stories (discourses) of privilege. Trying to do that would be totally insane and a waste of precious energy that can go toward doing greater, more important things. My past (and especially the American past) has empowered me to believe (or hope), as far as narratives or stories go, that there will be a reckoning, though not in an apocalyptic sense. As it comes (and it has been coming thanks to the efforts of many prophetic truthtellers), it is imperative for those with a mind to do so to offer narratives that REALLY speak to community and empowerment and not individualism, which, I propose, is not the same as putting the spotlight on an individual. [Where I come from, sometimes the efforts of one individual can empower an entire community].<BR/><BR/>Finally, speaking of efforts, I must report that as of August 15, 2008, I will join the staff at J.J. Wright Institute at Claflin University, a historically black college/university in South Carolina. Just a bit of my own truthtelling coming to pass!<BR/><BR/>Let's talk soon offline. <BR/><BR/>annalise fonza,<BR/>Faculty Fellow<BR/>J.J. Wright Institute<BR/>Claflin Universityannalisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16782798821277001090noreply@blogger.com