Eliciting Narrative: Using Digital Formats in Teaching Interdisciplinary Uses of Narrative

Patricia O’Connor, Georgetown University
Thursday, March 10, 2011; 1pm-3pm

This workshop explores how sociolinguistic methods can be used in a variety of disciplines to promote intellectual inquiry through elicitation and use of narratives. Considering narrative as a fundamental means of knowing (Bruner), the workshop will briefly showcase an ongoing undergraduate research project that joins faculty and students from English, Anthropology and History from two universities in the Middle East. Using both old and new technologies we will see digital stories from the project “Qatar as a Crossroads: Students Writing their own Histories.” This collaborative endeavor teaches history through narrative (personal and cultural) by weaving into and onto these “local” stories the historical artifacts, documents, and research that ground the personal experiences, family lore, and larger cultural and political events that have led to each person being in Qatar in 2010. The second part of the workshop will be hands-on and draw upon participants’ own histories, cultural identities, and disciplines to emphasize elicitation techniques for getting and using stories in teaching. We will sample imovie, vimeo and other digital formats that help speakers integrate visual and auditory materials into narratives of personal history and identity.

© 2010 GURT 2011 | Organized by Deborah Tannen & Anna Trester