RESOURCE: Counter Narratives in Practice

The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion, and Cultural Heritage at the Rare Book School is launching β€œCounter Narratives in Practice,” a podcast series about multicultural heritage collections, storytelling, and representation in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums, and beyond. The Mellon fellows worked in three groups: the Pacific Time Zone Group, Central Time Zone Group, and the Eastern Time Zone Group, producing a total of 6 episodes.

Descriptions of the episodes created by each group, from an email from the fellows:

The Pacific Time Zone Group produced the podcast episodes β€œArchiving Political Histories that Shape Education” and β€œDisconnection and Accessibility in the Archive.” Guests highlight the roles of Indigenous advocacy, settler colonialism, disability, and accessibility in archival collections.

The Central Time Zone Group produced the podcast episodes β€œWe Were Never Silent: Immigrant Narratives & Caribbean Print Culture as Counter Narrative” and β€œWe Were Never Silent: Bilingual Text in the Ottoman Empire & Pidgin English in Chinese Text as Counter Narratives.” Discussants explore immigration, oral history, and music as they relate to formal and informal institutions of memory.

The Eastern Time Zone Group produced the podcast episodes β€œHidden Histories: African American, Asian American, and Afro-Asian Relationality” and β€œHidden Histories: Immigrant Farm Workers and Black Intellectual Histories.” Guests discuss Florida Farmworkers, Covid-19, and the importance of documenting marginalized stories.