Gubrium and Graser Receive Mass Humanities Grant to Support Digital Storytelling Project with Palestinian Women and Mothers
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Professor of Community Health Education Aline Gubrium and MPH graduate student Kristen Graser have received a one-year, $11,440 grant from the Mass Humanities Foundation in support of "Digital Storytelling with Palestinian Women and Mothers in Western Massachusetts: Critical Narrative Intervention for Reproductive Justice." The project aims 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.
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. As Leyla Moushabeck, co-owner of Interlink Publishing Group and humanities advisor on the project, notes: “For Palestinians, our stories are our lifeline and our resistance. We tell them to nurture our traditions, to memorialize our ancestors and our homeland, and to fight the dehumanization that has ushered in this moment.”
The project will culminate in the production of 10, 2–3-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 (CICAG), meeting bi-monthly during the project. “Cooking and eating together is a key connecting activity for Palestinian women and families living in Western Massachusetts,” notes Moushabeck. Cooking-as-Inquiry recognizes bodies and cooking as interconnected sites of knowledge production and explores this with participant-researchers through food making. CICAG members will integrally inform the project processes and direction.
The project sets in place an ethic of caring that prioritizes a diversity of voices, experiences, and disciplinary considerations, and works through a medium of solidarity building. Through this collaboration, Gubrum, Graser, and Moushabeck will 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.
The study builds on Gubrium’s ongoing research focusing on culture centered and storytelling approaches to understanding and intervening on health inequities among marginalized and vulnerable populations. Gubrium has successfully stewarded grants from the Ford Foundation, the National Institutes of Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and internal UMass grants, including from the Public Service Endowment Grant, the Mellon Foundation, and a President’s Office grant on cultivating creative economies through digital storytelling. All funding has focused on narrative, arts-based, and ethnographic research to collaboratively research and support wellbeing with historically marginalized communities in Massachusetts.
A Certified Professional Midwife with over 20 years of experience working with mothers and families in clinical and community settings, Graser will assist with planning and implementing the DST workshop, assist with individual interviews, and oversee planning and implementation of debrief, planning, and showcase sessions, as part of her MPH capstone project.
Leyla Moushabeck is editorial director at Interlink Publishing Group, specializing in illustrated titles, including international cookbooks, children’s books, and cultural guides. A Palestinian American woman active in the local Palestinian community, she will provide support and guidance on the overall project as humanities advisor. She will also lead the Cooking-as-Inquiry Community Advisory Group meetings. Participants will be recruited from the local Palestinian community in Western Massachusetts.
Their project is part of $1.2 million in grant funding awarded to 64 cultural nonprofit organizations across Massachusetts through Mass Humanities’ Expand Massachusetts Stories (EMS) initiative. Since launching EMS in 2021, Mass Humanities has prioritized funding projects that give voice to those who are often excluded from mainstream histories and stories. In total, the foundation has distributed more than $3 million to date, supporting the completion of audio tours, documentary films, oral histories, public events, and archival research. The foundation serves as the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Expand Massachusetts Stories initiative is made possible through support from Mass Cultural Council and the Barr Foundation.