11-08 Re-storying Place, Presence, and Narrative as Bridges to Cultural Sustainabilities

Chair: Rayna Russom.

The basic tenets of cultural sustainability, as a research practice and tool for community-based advocacy, include agency, local knowledge, well-being, and the right for all cultural communities to thrive. Implied in this process is a collaboration that tells/retells the stories of those communities, especially those who are marginalized or in threat of being erased. This panel presents the culminating work of five recent MA graduate students whose work embeds these principles into community activism. While each paper examines a different community and a different set of narratives, all are connected to concepts of place-making and agency through accessible story-sharing