Story 2

In broad terms, white individuals see progress, while black and multi-cultural individuals see frustration and constant barriers when it comes to race relations. Lee Anne Bell, professor and director of education at Barnard College grew up in the 1960s and always believed that from that time of social turmoil, things would continue to move forward for the better. Bell believes that in some ways a backwards motion has happened in our society and is interested in “finding ways to make genuine dialogue about these issues possible so that collectively we can find ways to move forward,” she says.

            Bell has been teaching about racism and other social justice issues since she began teaching and her expertise was something that the Recreation and Leisure Studies Department was very interested in sharing with the students and faculty at UGA. Corey Johnson, an associate professor at UGA, knew about Bell through her book, Storytelling for Social Justice. “Her book is like a bible to me in relation to some of my core values for teaching,” says Johnson, “and social justice is a fundamental core value of our department, so we’re always looking to bring in speakers.”

During her speech, Bell touched on different aspects of her research about race issues. Through this research, she has found that the stories about race are different depending on the individual’s perspective race. Andrew Nelson, a senior at UGA, found her theories interesting, but not eye opening. “I can see the ‘progress’ that white people harp on, but as a black male, I am constantly shown the barriers put before me,” Nelson states. “It’s not a new theory, at least not for black people, but it’s the first time I’ve ever heard it put onto paper and explained so candidly.”

            Prior to her research, Bell had uninformed theories on the progress of race relations, however; after her research, Bell changed her mind on the progress of racism in America and began to work toward ways to think and speak about racism in a new way. She began exploring art as a method for unlocking the ‘concealed stories,’ as she’s named them. Her storytelling is centered around a counter story-telling community and includes four classifications of stories: stock, concealed, resistance and emerging/transforming stories.

            Storytelling methods, she believes, remove some of the risk behind sharing concealed stories. Johnson agrees that the storytelling is “a great way to start and get individuals to open up.” With these methods, individuals are able to share repressed stories of personal experience or second hand account with the risk and shame removed from the possible repercussions. Instead, the usual backlash that stems from controversial conversations is replaced with healthy conversation and analysis.

            One goal of Bell is to build new ‘emerging stories:’ stories that tell the truth of the situation as it is actually happening. Stories that help to “generate new stories for catalyzing our efforts,” she explains. Bell used a quote by Toni Morrison to exemplify how storytelling is going to make a difference in changing the ways racism is viewed:

 “Make up a story, narrative is radical; creating us at the very moment it’s being created.”