For the 15 students in the Duke Theater Studies class “Telling Stories for Social Change,” combating sexual violence starts with telling the survivors’ stories in their own words.
“In one year over 300,000 women enrolled in colleges and universities experience rape,” said Madeleine Lambert, the class co-instructor. “But [despite the numbers], we hold onto stories more than statistics.”
A professional actor and Duke alumna, Lambert teaches the class with Duke with Lynden Harris, founder of the Hillsborough-based storytelling organization Hidden Voices. In the class, students have met with several local leaders in the fight against sexual violence, including the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Durham Crisis Response Center. The students also interviewed activists, artists and survivors of sexual violence and created a social media campaign called #WeAreHereDuke.
The course will culminate at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, with a live performance of survivor narratives drawn from the transcribed interviews by students. It will be in the Sheafer Lab Theater in the Bryan Center.
Harris said many students had little storytelling experience and limited knowledge of sexual violence-related issues coming into the course. Although she and Lambert want students to be more aware of sexual violence and existing efforts to help survivors, their main goal was for students to see their own potential in ending the “epidemic.”
“I think Duke students are really hungry for an opportunity to engage in ways that make a difference in their community,” Harris said. “My students have told me that, prior to taking this course, they had never seen the effects of their academic work impact their community in such a short period of time. Our big goal with the students is that they come out of the class knowing they can create positive change in the world as an individual.”
Sophomore Danielle Mayes added that interviewing survivors has motivated her to be their lifelong advocate.
“I have learned so much more in ‘Telling Stories for Social Change’ than I have in any other class here at Duke,” Mayes said. “By giving a voice to those who may not [be able to] tell their stories, I feel like I have contributed to the fight to end sexual violence.”
Following the monologues by students in the class, attendees at the Dec. 3 event will discuss the narratives and receive free “#WeAreHereDuke” T-shirts to wear around campus. Lambert hopes the associated social media campaign will spread to peer institutions and that more young Americans will feel empowered to combat sexual violence in their communities.
“#WeAreHere stands for victims and survivors,” Lambert said. “We are all victims when anyone of us is harmed. #WeAreHere stands for allies and advocates. We can take care of each other.”
For more information on “Telling Stories for Social Change,” visit the course blog.