Whose story does it become? Interpretation, Representation, and Ownership

After a first gathering on listening, we meet again to ask what happens when we move from listening to interpreting and representing.

This workshop examines the ethical tensions involved in transforming another person’s experience into transcripts, quotations, research, artistic work, advocacy, archives or public narratives. Who interprets? Who decides what a story means? What becomes ours to carry, but not ours to own?

Whether or not you joined the first circle, you are warmly welcome.

About the series

Narratives as Relational Encounters aims to develop a reflective and practice-oriented toolkit and zine for the Resisting Colonizations Collective, grounded in a critical exploration of the ethics of engaging with narratives of silencing, particularly through oral history interviews and other forms of testimony. At the heart of the project is a deliberately unsettling question: Whose story is it once it is told?

Interactive Workshops: From Listening to Responsibility


These three participatory workshops, taking the form of a sharing circles facilitated by Zeina Ismail-Allouche, explore the ethical and political responsibilities that arise when we engage with narratives of silencing. Rather than beginning with predetermined rules for “ethical storytelling,” participants work through experiences, tensions and dilemmas related to listening, interviewing, interpretation, representation, ownership and the circulation of stories.

Presented by Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP) and Resisting Colonizations.