ISSR Summer Methodology Workshops | Critical Narrative Intervention and Research: Digital Storytelling

In this three-day (12-hour) workshop we begin with an orientation to introduce the digital storytelling process, discuss how digital storytelling may serve as a tool for critical narrative research and intervention, and examine ethical implications of bringing personal stories into the public realm (www.storycenter.org/ethical-practice). You will serve as a “research participant” within the workshop itself. Hands-on activities will include expressive writing and talking activities, a story circle, script writing, voiceover recording, and digitally editing a cut of a digital story. The workshop will end with a story screening, where the digital stories are screened and you present and discuss your stories with one another as a group. 

Instructors: Aline Gubrium and Alice Fiddian Green

Aline Gubrium is a Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at UMass Amherst. Her scholarship centers on reproductive and sexual health inequities, specifically focused on ethnic minority adolescent and emerging adult parents and their families. As a medical anthropologist working in the field of community health education, her research lies at the intersection of ethnographic and narrative research and critical narrative intervention. Dr. Gubrium (along with Elizabeth Krause in Anthropology) was funded by the Ford Foundation for the “Hear Our Stories: Diasporic Youth for Sexual Rights and Justice” project, which assessed digital storytelling as a narrative intervention to promote sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice in collaboration with young pregnant and parenting Latinas. Her NIH-funded study “A Culture-Centered Narrative Approach for Health Promotion” pilot tested the use of digital storytelling for sexual and reproductive health promotion with nulliparous, pregnant, and/or parenting young Latinas to positively impact sexual health and psychosocial outcomes. Dr. Gubrium currently serves as Co-Principal Investigator on the NIH-funded “MOCHA Moving Forward: A CBPR Investigation of Chronic Disease Prevention in Older, Low-Income African-American Men” study, which takes a CBPR approach to evaluate the effectiveness of a narratively enhanced intervention in lowering stress and risk of chronic diseases among men of color. Dr. Gubrium’s 2013 and 2015 books explain participatory visual and digital methodologies for social research, health promotion and practice, and advocacy.

Alice Fiddian-Green, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Public Health in the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of San Francisco. She is a current fellow in the Michigan Integrative Well-Being and Inequality (MIWI) program, an NIH supported initiative within the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Alice is an interdisciplinary scholar with over ten years of experience using critical public health storytelling methods (e.g., digital storytelling, photovoice, ‘zines). She has recently published two textbook chapters on digital storytelling as an action-oriented research method to promote empathy, equity, and social change. Alice’s current program of research applies a reproductive justice framework to examine the intersections of interpersonal and institutional violence, autonomy, and healthcare decision making. Alice previously conducted research with pregnant people and mothers with opioid and polysubstance use disorders. She is currently Co- and Principal Investigator on two projects, one that is examining adolescent-parent decision making and HPV vaccination uptake and the second which is using a youth participatory action approach to increase treatment autonomy and engagement for adolescents with opioid use disorders. 

Questions? For more information about this or any of the ISSR Summer Methodology Workshops, please contact ISSR Director of Research Methods Programs Jessica Pearlman (jpearlman@issr.umass.edu).

REGISTRATION INFORMATION | 12-HOUR WORKSHOP

Important: If you are registering for more than one workshop, please submit a separate registration form for each workshop, and select the appropriate fee for the length of your workshop and your academic and institutional status. We apologize for the inconvenience, but if the incorrect fee is selected your registration will be have to be resubmitted. Your original registration will be canceled and your fee returned to you.

Five College Students and Faculty

• Five College Undergraduate and Graduate Students and Postdocs:  $150/person
• Five College Faculty and Staff:  $270/person

Non-Five College Students and Faculty

• Non-Five College Undergraduate and Graduate Students and Postdocs:  $300/person
• Non-Five College Faculty, Staff and Other Professional:  $420/person

Registration note: The Five Colleges include: UMass Amherst, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College. Faculty, students and staff from University of Massachusetts Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell campuses and UMass Chan Medical School pay the five college rates. Registration closes for each workshop 2 full business days prior to the start date. If paying with departmental funds, contact Sue Falcetti (sfalcetti@umass.edu).

Cancellation note: In cases where enrollment is 5 or less, we reserve the right to cancel the workshop.  In cases where the registrant cancels prior to the workshop, a full refund will be given with two weeks notice, and 50% refund will be given with one week notice. We will not be able to refund in cases where registrant does not notify us of cancellation at least one week prior to the beginning date of the workshop.