RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

As I was reading this, I was recalling times in my life when I as a child would tell stories. I think since there were four of us, very close in age, we all played together. I can remember times when we would have imaginary enemies that we'd be shooting to save our fort, and times where we set up traps to catch the imaginary intruders. That to me is storytelling, because I can tell you exactly what we were doing and who we were pretending to be. In this article these refugees didn't have such great stories to tell. What an incredible and heart breaking life these men have gone through. I had no idea the kinds of things they went through just to get away from being killed, made to fight, made to work while their families and villages were destroyed, and who knows what else.
When I traveled to China, it was interesting to me to see how hard the Chinese work, how much they study to learn English, and how much dedication there is to becoming so modern and like the "westerners." Their culture is very important to them, and like the Sudanese, they also viewed their culture as sacred and important, but also put a huge emphasis on learning English. Unlike and like so many other cultures and countries, there isn't a lot of work, so in this case these Sudanese told stories. I thought it was neat to see how well these men remembered their past through the stories that were told to them as children. These stories are what helped them develop their literacy skills and what impacted their education once in the U.S. I also never thought of telling stories from the Bible to be storytelling, because I always associated storytelling with fictional stories, especially Disney stories(movies). I learned many Bible stories growing up, but never classified it as storytelling. Another way I never viewed storytelling was in a biographical way. The stories of someone's life is storytelling, and I guess I never made the connection.
But then I think about my experiences, and I feel like since my family does not live here, I tell my friends here and even my family at home many things that have happened in my life. I am used to living apart from my family. So catching up on the phone with a few stories of the past week or two with events that happened I guess is storytelling in a way. I thought it was neat to see how each man has developed into a better reader and writer through their past that included many stories. Their minds are never blank, for they have much to reflect upon and write about. These experiences have allowed them to even come up with hypothetical situations, like Francis has. Overall, I was amazed at the life changing experiences these men have gone through, and yet how grounded they are with life today. They have such a strong desire to share their culture, and I give them so much credit for their efforts to impact our society and their own by the use of literacy by being showing this in speeches and in their written stories. I don't allow my students to tell stories enough!

Abby Boughton