On May 8 2014, a Story Wheel day was held at UQAM that allowed groups that use testimonials as an intervention strategy to share perspectives and experiences using the “story wheel” method. The group of 15 participants included the project’s community partners, other contributors, and research staff.
Inspired by la roda da história, a reflexive method for sharing knowledge developed in Brazil, this activity allowed for an exchange of ideas about testimonial practices used by sexual minorities and people living with HIV. Following a sequence of three “story circles,” participants shared a range of experiences related to the use of testimonials and reflected on how to place these experiences along a timeline. For the first story circle, the discussion focused on examples of testimonials that had been provided in advance by participants (in various formats such as newspaper article, photo, audio, video, etc.) that were displayed on a wall installation in the meeting room. The second story circle looked more broadly at the resulting wall installation and the third involved a general discussion of points held in common as well as differing perspectives on the testimonials that were shared.
The event was successful in terms of generating new ideas, comparing experiences, and learning about different approaches.
As with past study days, this type of activity has helped to faciltate the sharing of testimonial practices among different minority groups. We look forward to the next study day!
Read the activity report (in French only).