Alternative Title

더 다양하고 포용적인 사회를 위한 시민소통의 페다고지: 우스토리 프로그램의 사례조사

Abstract

This research investigates Woostories, an existing diversity and inclusion program model at The College of Wooster. Woostories is a small-group conversational workshop program at The College of Wooster, which focuses on teaching human differences and building empathy through personal narratives. While the program has demonstrated empirical successes on campus and possesses the flexibility to be applied in other contexts, there have not been an academicinvestigation on its effects. Hence, this paper investigates how one’s story or narrative within Woostories influences an individual’s understanding of others’ diverse perspectives andexperiences. It hypothesizes whether Woostories 1) enhances its attendants’ understanding ofdiversity, more specifically, diverse perspectives present in the program, 2) contributes toindividuals’ open communication with others, 3) develops individuals’ sense of belonging to theircommunities. In order to measure the program’s efficacy, I organized four Woostories sessions onthe Wooster campus during a semester and used qualitative methods, targeting mainly first-year student audience participants. I conducted forty open-ended surveys and seven formal interviews with student speaker volunteers and first-year student audience participants who were present in one of the four program sessions. Major findings include that Woostories program model has layers of impacts in relation to the three hypotheses, and I argue that Woostories is found to be positive with all three hypotheses. Additionally, I collected data about the Human Library, since the Woostories stemmed from the Human Library. I conducted six formal interviews with the readers, human books, librarians, and administrative and staff members of the Human Library and discuss how the two programs are different and what Woostories can potentially take away from the Human Library.

Advisor

Matsuzawa, Setsuko

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

Disciplines

Academic Advising | Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching | Civic and Community Engagement | Community-Based Learning | Community College Leadership | Educational Methods | Gender Equity in Education | Higher Education Administration | Higher Education and Teaching | International and Intercultural Communication | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication

Keywords

The College of Wooster, Woostories, Human Library, George Herbert Mead, Herbert George Blumer, Hans-Gorg Gadamer, Jurgen Habermas

Publication Date

2019

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2019 Jisou "Armel" Lee