Storytelling & Narrative Justice

Note from Instructor. This syllabus is under construction. Everything you need to begin the first week of the course, and numerous links to describe much of the course content, are available. If you find there are materials or content that you feel you need that are not accessible to you in this moment, please let me know.

Here is a video to orient yourself to the early course materials and expectations.

https://youtu.be/n4b0oTQFzCY

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course explores how justice might be defined, sought, motivated and made through the use of storytelling and narrative forms of various types. Using meditative exercises, written essays and video and/or digital narrative means, students will examine others’ stories and narratives of justice-seeking-and-making and create and examine their own.

COURSE OBJECTIVES Throughout the course, students will:

• Develop basic concepts of what narrative is and how it functions in relation to circumstances of justice and injustice, identity, power and difference
• Imagine what it means to create counter-storytelling communities in pursuit of justice
• Consider how storytelling might be used as a means of social change
• Construct, deconstruct and share their own stories and the stories of our communities

• brown, adrienne maree and Walida Imarisha, eds. 2015. Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements. Oakland, CA: AK Press.
• Levins-Morales, Aurora. 2019. Medicine Stories: Essays for Radicals. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. (Make sure to buy the new edition, not 1999 edition,)
• Madison, Soyini. 2010. Acts of Activism: Human Rights as Radical Performance. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Spry, Tami. 2011. Body, Paper, Stage: Writing and Performing Autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
• Many, many other readings, viewing and listening materials as provided week-to-week.

1) General Participation: Learning is not merely about receiving information from a variety of expert sources; it is about everyone, including the instructor, asking questions and seeking to understand from the materials and all participants. In this class, every participant is a teacher and a learner. I expect students will:

1. Invest in the course by establishing a regular and respectful online presence;
2. Genuinely try to learn the concepts, principles, and material by reading and listening; collaborate in the spirit of learning critically and enthusiastically;
3. Participate in online discussions. Respect other students' preparation by being prepared, having read and watched the assigned materials carefully and thoughtfully;
4. Participate in Zoom meetings;
5. Turn in all assignments in a timely fashion;
6. Communicate with the instructor when you anticipate being unable to participate in discussions, Zoom meetings, or turning in assignments in a timely manner. 

2)  Discussion Forums:

This same information is posted under the link “Online Discussions.”

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at Midnight MST.

This course relies heavily on online discussions. This is where much of the collective aspect of the course “takes place.” Here we share ideas, ask questions, and deepen our understanding of course concepts. In our storytelling course, there will be both textual/theory discussion posts and practice/exercise-and-video based discussion posts. Each week we will usually have one or the other of these types of discussion posts – based in the course theory, or based in the course practice. Sometimes you may be required to participate in both kinds of posts. Generally, whatever kind of post I am asking you to participate in, I will post numerous questions related to the weekly topics. By no means are you expected to answer all of questions I post. Respond to the ones that make you want to answer. What I really want you to do is to respond critically and personally to the course materials and one another. My expectation is that you will participate in all discussion threads as often and as well as you are able.

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at midnight MST. I encourage you to post your original responses earlier than that. Even if you are not ready to post your own original answers to the questions early in the week, I nonetheless encourage you to log in to the course website early on, read your classmates' posts that have posted early, and respond to them. Ideally, participation in online discussions should be completed within the week assigned. Each week, the discussions will start on Monday and last through Sunday night. This allows us all to focus on the same issues at the same time. Being present in an online format requires you to make your presence known. 

3) Zoom Meetings

We will have three different Zoom Meetings throughout the quarter Week 2, Week 6 and Week 8. Each time we have a hangout, there will be three choices of Hangout time slots. You are required to sign up for one of these slots. The content and necessary preparation for each hangout will be delineated in a link on the course home page.

4) Completing Initial and Final Learning Agreements

See link on Self-Grading and Evaluation/Grading

5) Storytelling Exercises/Reflections

Throughout the course, I will be offering you the opportunity to complete storytelling exercises to help you flex your storytelling thinking and practice, and ideally to help you flesh out a final storytelling project. Some of these will be more meditative thought-experiments to get you engaged with your own personal story as it relates to matters of justice and injustice, and will have no formal written component. Each of the storytelling exercises will be detailed within the weekly coursework. Where those storytelling exercises have required written reflection components about your storytelling processes that you turn in to me, I will make that clear within the assignment links in the syllabus. Through your self-evaluation and learning agreements, you will be the only real judge of if and how well you really engage these exercises. I recommend that you keep a journal of some sort to record your thoughts as you engage these exercises. This will aide you in doing the mdi-term synthesis critical reflection and discussing your experiences with these exercises with your classmates.

6) Final Project/Reflection

Tell a justice narrative/story any means you choose – video, fiction, photography, etc. If your final project is not actually a written paper, a short reflection paper connected to course themes should accompany your project. More details to follow.

Discussion Forums:

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at Midnight MST.

This course relies heavily on online discussions. This is where much of the collective aspect of the course “takes place.” Here we share ideas, ask questions, and deepen our understanding of course concepts. In our storytelling course, there will be both textual/theory discussion posts and practice/exercise-and-video based discussion posts. Each week we will usually have one or the other of these types of discussion posts – based in the course theory, or based in the course practice. Sometimes you may be required to participate in both kinds of posts. Generally, whatever kind of post I am asking you to participate in, I will post numerous questions related to the weekly topics. By no means are you expected to answer all of questions I post. Respond to the ones that make you want to answer. What I really want you to do is to respond critically and personally to the course materials and one another. My expectation is that you will participate in all discussion threads as often and as well as you are able.

Every week, you must post your own original response to the discussion questions by Wednesday night at midnight MST. I encourage you to post your original responses earlier than that. Even if you are not ready to post your own original answers to the questions early in the week, I nonetheless encourage you to log in to the course website early on, read your classmates' posts that have posted early, and respond to them. Ideally, participation in online discussions should be completed within the week assigned. Each week, the discussions will start on Monday and last through Sunday night. This allows us all to focus on the same issues at the same time. Being present in an online format requires you to make your presence known. 

We will have three different live video conference meetings by Zoom throughout the quarter: Week 2, the Week 6 and Week 8. The Zoom meeting will be 60 minutes long. Each time we meet by Zoom, there will be three choices of time slots. You are required to sign up for one of these slots. All times are Mountain Standard Time (MST). Please adjust for your own time zone. The content and necessary preparation for each hangout will be delineated on this page prior to the Zoom meeting.

HERE IS THE LINK TO MY ZOOM ACCOUNT, USE THIS LINK FOR ALL MEETINGS: https://zoom.us/j/9491804795

DO YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN A ZOOM MEETING?

Please do not figure out how to participate in a Zoom meeting on the same day that you try to participate in one for the first time. 

In general terms, all you need to have is the Zoom application on your computer or other device. I will send you a link in advance of the meeting and you click the link at the appointed time. I will share reminders and more detailed information on how the call works during the days before the first Zoom meeting.

If you have any questions, PLEASE CONTACT the Iliff helpdesk (helpdesk@iliff.edu). The IT folks are more than willing to practice a Zoom meeting with you. They would also prefer not to have an emergency phone call from you five minutes before a hangout because you have not prepared yourself for this moment.

Zoom Meeting #1 -Week 2 - Sign up HERE

LEARNING AGREEMENT: HERE YOU ARE GOING TO BEGIN TO TELL ME THE STORY OF YOURSELF AS A STUDENT DURING THIS COURSE, DURING THIS QUARTER. There are two aspects to your self-evaluation.

1) Reflect: What is the dominant story of yourself as a student? What about this story of yourself as a student would you like to affirm? What about that story would you like to change or resist? Is there a new or emerging story about yourself as a student and social justice agent that you would like to test in this course? What you like to learn about yourself and about dominant narratives of injustice and justice? What are the in/justice issues you would like to engage during this course? How do you hope your own story to be changed and transformed into a more liberative story? What do you desire for this course and for practice of telling stories – your own and others’ - and what do you plan to invest in order to achieve this?

2) Anticipate and Agree to the work you intend to do, Assign Yourself a Grade. While I will provide you with extensive written feedback on your assignments, all students will evaluate their own work in the course and assign themselves a grade. A few weeks in, you should have a clearer picture of the expectations of this course. Your learning agreement will serve as an informal learning agreement, a narrative description of your intentions for fulfilling all of the course requirements as they are delineated in the syllabus (see the course requirements page for more detailed information on many of these items):

1) general, enthusiastic, prepared participation in the course

2) weekly online discussions (both textual and video)

3) initial and final learning agreement

4) storytelling exercises (some of these include a formal written element, some do not)

5) 3 Zoom Meetings

6) final project & written reflection paper

By reading the syllabus and course assignments, you should be able to reflect upon what you will do. Tell me the story of what kind of student you are and hope to be during this course. Describe how you will evaluate what you have done in each of these areas by the end of the course. You may share personal challenge goals around being a student (time management, more insightful participation in discussions) and learning what it means to be a storyteller committed to social transformation. 

 This document will essentially serve as a learning agreement between you and me, and with yourself. This learning agreement can be as long or as short as you wish in order to communicate your intentions. You will not be completely sure of what you will do for all of your projects, but you can indicate if you know where you are leaning.

At the end of this narrative, please tell me what grade you intend to achieve in the course. The learning agreement will not be considered complete without you suggesting a final, desired grade.

By the last day of the quarter, and making reference to this first learning agreement, evaluate how you think did in achieving your stated objectives and goals throughout the quarter, and whether or not you achieved the grade you anticipated, reflecting on the story you hoped to achieve of yourself as a student and agent of social justice. At the end of this reflection, you must give yourself a final grade.

As the instructor, I am responsible for assigning final grades. In almost all cases, I will assign the grade you give yourself. However, if you wildly overrate or underrate your work, we will enter into negotiations about the final grade.

• Each class week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. I expect that you will communicate with me when you anticipate being unable to participate in discussions, Zoom Meetings, or turning in assignments in a timely manner..
• If either you missed something or need a refresher, any new or updated information on the class can be found in the Announcements section. Otherwise, all of the information on how to navigate the course is provided on the home page of the course, which includes links to all content in the syllabus. The end of the home page syllabus is a chronological list of items that are due. Except for the Zoom meetings, all of your assignments from weekly course materials, to Discussions, to more extensive writing assignments, should show up as due dates in your To-Do list for the course.
• Turn your notifications on.

Communications Policy: I will log on to the classroom most days. The discussion forum is generally the best place to ask most questions. If there is a question about class requirements or other questions that do not fit into a weekly discussion, I encourage you to use the internal Canvas communication system. If you need to contact me on an individual basis, please email me directly and I will try to reply within 24 hours. If you would like to arrange to communicate by Skype, Google, Zoom, or phone, please email me directly to set up an appointment.

If you need technical support for anything related to your laptop or device, how CANVAS works, how to do live video conferencing, you should contact the IT helpdesk at helpdesk@iliff.edu.

Degree Learning Goals: Please take some time to look over the Professional Degree Learning Goals (MDiv, MASC, MAPSC) and the Academic Degree Learning Goals (MTS, MA).

Incompletes:  If incompletes are allowed in this course, see the Master's Student Handbook for Policies and Procedures.

Pass/Fail:  Masters students wishing to take the class pass/fail should discuss this with the instructor by the second class session.

Academic Integrity and Community Covenant:  All students are expected to abide by Iliff’s statement on Academic Integrity, as published in the Masters Student Handbook, or the Joint PhD Statement on Academic Honesty, as published in the Joint PhD Student Handbook, as appropriate.  All participants in this class are expected to be familiar with Iliff’s Community Covenant.

Core Values: As a community, Iliff strives to live by this set of Core Values.

Accommodations:  Iliff engages in a collaborative effort with students with disabilities to reasonably accommodate student needs.   Students are encouraged to contact their assigned advisor to initiate the process of requesting accommodations.  The advising center can be contacted at advising@iliff.edu or by phone at 303-765-1146. 

Writing Lab:  Grammar and organization are important for all written assignments.  Additional help is available from the Iliff Writing Lab, which is available for students of any level who need help beginning an assignment, organizing thoughts, or reviewing a final draft. 

Inclusive Language:  It is expected that all course participants will use inclusive language in speaking and writing, and will use terms that do not create barriers to classroom community. 

Julie Todd, Ph.D.

E-mail: jtodd@iliff.edu

John Wesley Iliff Senior Lecturer in Justice and Peace Studies

Dr. Julie Todd is a scholar-activist living in Lawrence, Massachusetts. She received her Ph.D. in 2012 from University of Denver-Iliff School of Theology Joint Program in Religious and Theological Studies. The title of her dissertation was “Evaluating Violence and (Non)violence: A Critical, Practical Theology of Social Change.” As John Wesley Iliff Senior Lecturer in Justice & Peace Studies, she teaches all of her courses in online and hybrid formats, and primarily teaches courses in the area of justice and peace. Her scholarship focuses on social change theory and praxis, violence and (non)violence, and matters of privilege, oppression and solidarity across axes of difference. She is a published essayist and poet on matters of justice-seeking and the spiritual life. As an activist, she works in her community to create transformative, grassroots spaces for social justice education and practice. She works locally and nationally to end the anti-LGBTQ policies and practices of the United Methodist Church through the group Love Prevails. She is also a trained herbalist and aromatherapist, working with other healers in Lawrence, MA on collective healing projects.