Listening Across Difference

Telling a good story is at the heart of public scholarship and builds the skills of listening across difference, which is central to addressing issues of justice and equity. This Humanities Teaching Lab (HTLab) will explore how to organize cultural documentation projects, ask good questions, and construct engaging narratives. Participants will view and discuss examples of projects that blend interview techniques from oral history (recollections of the past) to ethnography (life histories and cultural studies), as well as more journalistic “on the street” interviews and document analysis as ways to better listen to a place. This workshop will also address the duality of listening to the streets while also seeking transparency from those in power, which can produce important and actionable qualitative studies.

Nicole King is an associate professor and chair of the Department of American Studies, an affiliate assistant professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture doctoral program, and director of the Orser Center for the Study of Place, Community, and Culture at UMBC. King’s current research and teaching include the Baltimore Traces: Communities in Transition project, where students research historic places in downtown Baltimore and complete oral history interviews focused on preserving the opinions of those who live, work, and play downtown. King is also currently co-editing Baltimore Revisited: Rethinking and Remaking a Right to the City, a collection of articles on Baltimore’s social history for Rutgers University Press.