Why We Should Share Our Stories: Commentary on Part One of Our Conversation with Professor Fitzgibbon
Micaela Tam
In large part, eliminating distance between academia and other sectors has to do with cultivating inclusive spaces in which people of different backgrounds can find ways to communicate with a common language.
Through our conversation with Professor Fitzgibbon, I’ve come to realise the immense importance of storytelling: this importance manifests itself in various ways. Professor Fitzgibbon is spot-on — framing our work in terms of stories takes away all the jargon and boils things down to the essentials. Perhaps in the clearest sense, they help us understand whom exactly we are trying to help and why we should help. But they also help us understand and build relationships with potential partners of different fields/sectors in networks so we can effectively collaborate to alleviate global challenges. Sharing our stories helps us connect our values, recognise that we’re looking at the same problem from different perspectives, account for the voices that otherwise wouldn’t have been heard, allows us to transform, adapt and act beyond a single story: it increases the potential to bring about transformative change.
Ultimately, our world-views are shaped by the stories we’ve heard, which redefine what we think of certain things and determine what paths we want to take. I’ve learned from Professor Fitzgibbon that while being committed to your worldview is key in bringing about social justice, it’s also about having the humility to be flexible in accepting that your perspective may not always be the best way. It is not only the responsibility of the scholar to act as truth-tellers, to translate stories into a common language, to listen, to be humble, to include the marginalised: it is the responsibility of all actors in a network. Everyone must have access to, must see for themselves the frontline, in order to understand local situations and turn words into action.
If this space is provided, perhaps networks can take more holistic and interdisciplinary approach to solve complex problems that are affected by and affect the structures of society. As a university student, what better way is there to start widening my own understandings and cultivating my own intellectual creativity than through the happenings of university, the courses in different disciplines I can take, the people with different specialties I can interact with, who all possess unique knowledge and insights?
As you will here more from Professor Fitzgibbon in the next part of our conversation, knowledge is a resource, and one that isn’t lacking: we just need to effectively use it. I am encouraged by this conversation to find inclusive spaces in which, as Professor Fitzgibbon says, we can “redefine what is possible.”
Haven’t read about our conversation with Professor Fitzgibbon yet? Click here and you won’t regret it!
About the author
Micaela is going into her third year at the University of Toronto. A strong believer in taking an interdisciplinary approach, she is specialising in International Relations, majoring in History and minoring in Economics. Previously a student at Singapore American School, she is spending her summer interning in Singapore with Asia P3 Hub, which she finds a rewarding and awesome experience!
