Dr. Filippo Trevisan, Deputy Director of the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP), and Dr. Ariadne Vromen, Professor in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, will give a talk at the University of Melbourne about their new collaborative project on the use of storytelling in grassroots advocacy in Australia and the U.S.

The talk is organized by the School of Culture and Communication (Media and Communication Program) at the University of Melbourne.

Date: February 13, 2019
Time: 1:00-2:00pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)
Location: University of Melbourne, Arts West North Wing Room 253

Much attention in the current information environment seems to favor personal stories over scientific evidence. Because of this, progressive advocacy organizations are increasingly collecting, curating, and disseminating large numbers of powerful personal narratives. Storytelling by these organizations is both innovative and potentially controversial.

To shed light on this, Dr. Trevisan will discuss evidence from in-depth interviews with key personnel and communication consultants responsible for storytelling initiatives for major progressive advocacy organizations in the United States and Australia.

In Australia, normative diffusion has promoted storytelling as a values-driven advocacy philosophy applied to specific debates. In the U.S., there is a broader system-wide shift and institutionalization of storytelling into progressive advocacy as a response to the rise of “fake news” and misinformation.

Speakers will report how personal storytelling is making inroads in progressive advocacy in both countries, but at a substantially different pace and for different reasons.