The Power+Place collaborative partners with two Elon courses to capture 10 new storyteller’s histories at CityGate Dream Center
Elon University’s geography course “Global Migrations” and human service studies course “Groups and Communities” met with ten local storytellers and members of the community at CityGate Dream Center to launch the Fall 2024 iteration of “Stories of Alamance County,” a project of the Power+Place Collaborative.
The Power+Place Collaborative is a partnership between Elon University, the African American Cultural Arts & History Museum, Burlington Parks & Recreation and Alamance Public Libraries. Since 2018, they have collected and preserved oral histories and cocreated digital stories with residents from diverse communities across Alamance County.
In collaboration with NC Humanities, this year’s “Stories of Faith and Community” theme highlights faith, movement, migration, place-making and community-building for this year’s North Carolina Reads book club program. A goal for this program includes generating public awareness and understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing diverse groups and facilitating dialogue and understanding across lines of racial, religious, cultural, linguistic, geographic and generational difference.
Students from the “Global Migrations” course, taught by Associate Professor of Geography Sandy Marshall and Associate Professor of Human Service Studies Danielle Lake, and Human Services Lecturer Deidre Yancey’s “Groups and Communities” course participated in the event to learn more about Alamance County. They sat at tables with storytellers to discuss why storytellers are collaborating with the Power+Place Collaborative and why our stories are important.
Storytellers Camilia Majette and Kassim Mbwana will together share their stories of migration, power, and people. They noted that these conversations revealed how unique but also intertwined our stories of place are.
“What is so amazing is that we all have our own unique stories,” Mbwana said. “It’s so refreshing and empowering to see someone else take their story and retell it in a way that you haven’t thought about and share it with people.”
Students and storytellers are working closely together to collaboratively produce the digital stories to share with the community in a Public Screening on Dec 5. “Groups and Communities” student Sierra Kenyon embraced the stories her grandparents told her as a child, which continued her passion for hearing stories that others had to share. Going into this project, she is looking forward to creating connections that will impact more people than just herself in one of the eight final products she will be a part of.
“I’ve always been passionate and interested in learning about everyone’s history,” Kenyon said. “I’m very excited to be able to do stuff that will affect the greater community.”
In partnership with the Alamance County Public Libraries, the Power+Place Collaborative will next host a countywide book club dialogue featuring Diya Abdo’s American Refuge. This event will feature community organizations and resources from across the county, a lunch and talk and a book signing with the author. You can reserve your spot below!