On Storytelling in Participatory Arts with Young People: The Gaps in the Story, by Catherine Heinemeyer

Abstract

Storytelling has long been an educational tool. In Storytelling in Participatory Arts with Young People: The Gaps in the Story, Catherine Heinemeyer traces the century-long evolution of “storyknowing,” the way stories become knowledge. Educators, mental health counselors, and storytellers who purposely work with youth see different narrative worlds interweave. Heinemeyer addresses the potential of storytelling with and by adolescents and focuses on the gaps within the traditional triangular relationship between listener, storyteller, and story. These gaps include the happenings and interactions from listener to storyteller, from storyteller to story, and from story to listener. While many of the particular needs of youth have not changed significantly over the decades, Heinemeyer proposes that through social media and accessible technological tools to make, today’s youth have expanded capabilities to tell their stories and to represent themselves to peers and adults.