Storytelling for Leadership, Organizing, and Action

Catalog description

This experiential course introduces students to the leadership practice of public narrative - a storytelling tool for social change. To lead is to accept responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty. Through narrative we can learn to access the moral - or emotional - resources to respond to the challenges of an uncertain world - as individuals, as communities and as nations. Responding to urgent challenges mindfully - with agency - requires courage rooted in our ability to draw on hope over fear; empathy over alienation; and self-worth over self-doubt. While leading with authenticity requires understanding our own sources of hope and courage, it also pushes us to look beyond ourselves to form intentional relationships with others so that together we can address urgent challenges facing our community. Grounded in a pedagogy of reflective practice and experiential learning, each component of the practicum is sequenced as explanation, modeling, practicing, and debriefing. Students will learn not only "about" what makes an effective public narrative, but will learn experientially through practice drafting each narrative component - a story of self, story of us, and story of now. Students will leave with an understanding of how their calling to leadership connects with their community and can motivate others to action.