Narrative Self: Emotions, Identity, and Storytelling

This seminar offers participants the opportunity to delve into powerful short stories and experiment with narrating their own within this concise structure. The goal is for participants to compose a short story that taps into their own histories and emotions. We will primarily learn from authors of color how to put our histories, stories, aspects of our identities, and emotions onto the page. The constraints of a few thousand words can create the best works, with a storytelling economy that distills the power of the written word in astonishing ways. These limitations often conceal the profound emotional and intellectual complexity of the narration.

This seminar addresses how to use (fictional) storytelling to speak about personal histories and use them as narratives of empowerment. Content will pertain, but is not limited, to important sociopolitical topics and include a short story exploring themes of racial identity and the reclamation of racist symbolism. It will also include the story of two Native American men and themes of friendship, loss, and cultural identity. Finally, we will discuss a story of violence and personal transformation. All of which will teach us more about the intricacies of the short story.

The seminar is accessible to all, regardless of disciplinary background, and challenges the separation of subjectivity and objectivity in academia and explores how personal stories and the telling of them can enrich research. Therefore, participants are encouraged to integrate their disciplinary perspectives into their storytelling, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue. After all, the seminar’s uniqueness lies in participants’ personal narratives and perspectives, making each session distinct.

Learning about the theoretical framework of memoirs as well as the craftsmanship around (fictional) short stories will be accompanied by group work, individual work, close readings and reader criticisms, and writing workshops.

Last, but not least, although the seminar and materials are in English, participants are welcome to converse, ask questions, and write in German.

Seminarleitung: Ahngeli Shivam, Dr. Natalie Herzberger