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Aline Gubrium, professor of community health education in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS), and MPH graduate student Kristen Graser have received a one-year, $11,440 grant from the Mass Humanities Foundation in support of their project “Digital Storytelling with Palestinian Women and Mothers in Western Massachusetts: Critical Narrative Intervention for Reproductive Justice.” 

Alongside Leyla Moushabeck, co-owner of Interlink Publishing Group and humanities advisor on the project, Gubrium and Grase aim to uplift the voices of diasporic women and shift potentially stigmatizing conversations on family making toward more supportive ones that value all families.

The proposed project aligns with the Mass Humanities Foundation Expand Massachusetts Stories Initiative, with an emphasis on voices and experiences that have gone largely unrecognized. It aims to explore, interpret, share and stimulate a more inclusive understanding of the lived experiences of one group of Massachusetts residents – Palestinian families living in Western Massachusetts – who are historically and presently excluded from public discourse. Political and social determinants of reproductive health have had a tremendous impact on the experiences of Palestinian women and mothers in Palestine and the diaspora.

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The project uses a critical narrative intervention approach to understand and promote reproductive justice with Palestinian women and families living in Massachusetts. Digital storytelling will be used by Palestinian women in Western Massachusetts to narrate their own experiences, with the sharing of stories a platform for stimulating a more inclusive understanding of their lived experiences.

The project will culminate in the production of 10 two- to three-minute digital stories to be used in classroom discussions, shared at regional and national level forums, and incorporated into strategic reproductive justice efforts. Project participants will also serve as members of a Cooking-as-Inquiry Community Advisory Group, meeting bi-monthly during the project.

Part of $1.2 million in grant funding awarded to 64 cultural nonprofit organizations across Massachusetts through Mass Humanities’ Expand Massachusetts Stories (EMS) initiative, the project ultimately aims to offer a vital intervention to the narratives that prevent broader communities from understanding past harms, recognizing present ones, and moving towards a just and equitable future.