Celebrating Diversity: Combatting Refugee Isolation Through Cross-Cultural Storytelling

Story Squad has begun a new year-long project in collaboration with Dr. Heba Abd Al Salam to use storytelling as a cultural bridge with new, Middle Eastern refugees to the Triangle area. The project seeks to address the issue of cultural isolation and language barriers for Middle Eastern and Muslim refugees in the Triangle area. Journal articles and professionals in organizations that support refugees claim the primary focus of support is on the economic needs of their clients and “the resettlement process is devoid of cultural interventions” (Diya Abdo, Every Campus a Refuge project). Through a 9-month series of field trips to cultural heritage institutions and local historical sites, participants will encounter local NC culture and heritage to increase their understanding of their new home’s traditions and grow their sense of belonging. The primary educational strategy will be bilingual storytelling to bring cultural artifacts and spaces to life. Each field excursion will include on-site translation and a bilingual handout/booklet to help increase language exposure and give participants something to revisit. We hope to reinforce a sense of pride in their own culture and help them feel welcomed and valued in North Carolina.

We have assembled a team of dedicated student volunteers to help with program preparation and support, and we have reached out to three refugee organizations as possible collaborators: US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Raleigh, and Church World Service and World Relief in Durham. We are planning our first field trip in late February and are currently working on logistics and preparing the programs for the spring!

We are very thankful that this program is supported in part by North Carolina Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, www.nchumanities.org.

Story Squad in Charlotte, NC

Story Squad gave an introductory storytelling workshop to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library (CMPL) staff this week.  We had 20 attendees from youth and adult services who spent the afternoon exploring how to find, learn, and perform folktales from around the world. We discussed performance anxiety, audience participation, the use of props, and various ways of visualizing stories so that they maintain an improvisational quality, even after multiple retellings.  What a great group of storytellers work at CMPL!  Thanks for having us down to be part of this.

13th Annual Storytelling Under the Stars

Once again, on November 19th, 2023 from 6:00pm – 7:0pm, Amy Sayle and the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center have hosted storytellers from the School of Information and Library Science’s Story Squad to share celestial folktales from around the world under the brilliant night-time sky as projected in the Planetarium’s full-dome theater. Five storytellers shared tales from China, native North America (Paiute), Russia (Siberia), Polynesia (Tonga), and North America (Appalachia). Attendees were treated to stories about the Milky Way, the moon, the North Star, and Orion.  Now when they get outside the lights of Chapel Hill and look up at the stars, we hope they will remember the stories and see the constellations with new eyes!

2020 in Review

Well 2020 is just about over, and the impact on Story Squad has been severe (as you can tell from the lack of postings and activity on the website).  We basically shuttered all operations for the year (and plan to remain shuttered for the spring of 2021 as well), with the hope that the vaccines will allow us to return to active engagement with the community.  We have been creating some new storytelling videos, though they are not yet ready for the Folktale Storytelling Digital Library; the FSDL has a few active videos, but more will be forthcoming as we get them processed and uploaded.

We wish everyone a much happier and healthier 2021!

From the members of Story Squad

27th Winter Stories a Success

Winter Stories 2019 was a huge success! Thanks to the Friends of the UNC Libraries for sponsoring the event and for making it special, with hot chocolate (I’ll have to share the Mayan story of the origin of hot chocolate sometime) and goodies for all to eat. We had nearly a full house, and the children were really attentive listeners (thank you parents)! Thanks also to all the adults who came to enjoy the evening.  Our five storytellers enchanted the audience with literary tales and folktales from around the world; thanks to them for their preparation and expertise. The whole evening was simply delightful!

 

 

Newly minted storytellers

Story Squad is thrilled to have a new group of storytellers joining our ranks, having completed the INLS 558 Principles and Techniques of Storytelling class. They have told folktales, urban legends, and even a few personal stories during their semester’s work, and they’ve explored the power of emotional vulnerability in performance (not always fun, but well worth the effort).  Welcome, storytellers!

Winter Stories 2019 (coming December 5th)

Please join us for the 27th annual Winter Stories tradition of storytelling, candy, and hot chocolate on Thursday, December 5th in the Pleasants Room of Wilson Library. Refreshments will be served starting at 5:00pm, and the storytelling and singalong will run from 5:30-6:30.  We hope to see you there!