Higher Ed
VOW’s Trauma-Informed Storytelling Practices
Here are 10 key trauma-informed practices to create ethical, supportive spaces for storytelling and personal narrative. While our approach is focused on oral history, these principles apply to many types of community-based, interview-based, or relational work.
Beginning Again: Stories of Movement and Migration in Appalachia Curriculum
These lessons explore oral histories that examine the complexities of why people leave, why people stay, and and the systems that interact with individual choice. The curriculum is rooted in an Ethnic Studies framework that questions dominant narratives and promotes critical thinking around not only the Appalachian region, but migration and displacement in general.
Deep Conversation Starters for Relationship Building
This single-page handout contains over twenty prompts to spark new stories, deepen bonds, and create a safe and brave space for sharing.
Say It Forward: A Guide to Social Justice Storytelling
Say It Forward is a DIY oral history guide that outlines best practices for social justice storytelling and community-based projects.
Ethical Storytelling Principles
VOW’s ethical storytelling principles are grounded in values of respect, dignity, empathy, transparency, collaboration, and equity. These principles are relevant to many forms of community-based storytelling and programs.
How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America Curriculum
The lessons use oral history to promote a nuanced understanding of Indigenous communities and settler colonialism.
Criminal Justice • Cultural and Personal Identity • Economic Justice • Environmental Justice • Gender Justice • Migration & Displacement • Racial Justice
Hope Deferred: Narratives of Zimbabwean Lives Curriculum
These accompanying lesson plans for Hope Deferred create a point of entry for examining the past and present history of Zimbabwe, a Southern African country struggling with the legacy of colonialism, oppressive political leadership, and a collapsed economy.
Cultural and Personal Identity • Economic Justice • Migration & Displacement • Political Oppression & Civil Rights • Racial Justice
Chasing the Harvest: Migrant Workers in California Agriculture Curriculum
The lessons in this unit explore oral history narratives from the men, women, and children working in California’s fields who grow and harvest the food many Americans eat every day.
Cultural and Personal Identity • Economic Justice • Environmental Justice • Migration & Displacement
