How can we use the narratives gathered from a story circle as data for qualitative research? I’ve been grappling with this methodological question since I began my story circle practice in 2019, and in 2020, I developed an interview method that builds upon this dialogic practice.

Drawing on the rich story circle practice developed by the Free Southern Theater during the U.S. Civil Rights era, this interview method enables co-researchers to gather and analyze stories in community. These stories generate themes and insights that can be applied to drive organizational and community change. Participants have shared that this method employs low-tech approaches to foster critical connections, community, and knowledge. Having developed the Story Circle Interview Method in 2020 for an organizing group in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, I continue to utilize it in other contexts and geographies.

Training & Capacity Building

Over the years, have held online and in-person trainings on this method for staff members at the Partnership for Public Service and the University of Richmond Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, students at Smith College Wurtele Center for Leadership, leaders from the Sterling Network NYC, and members of Alliance to Reclaim our School and The Latinx Project network.

Scholarly Publication

I authored a chapter on this method in the edited book Anti-colonial Research Praxis: Methods for Knowledge Justice (editor Caroline Lenette). The chapter explains the origins of the story circle practice, the origins of the interview method, and the contexts in which it has been used.

Applied Practice

As a Senior Fellow at the University of Richmond’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, I co-led a participatory action research project utilizing the Story Circle Interview Method. We co-designed and co-implemented a community-engaged “attunement process” to joyfully and fully involve stakeholders in collectively painting a bold vision for the Center’s future as it nears its 20th anniversary. While the Story Circle Interview Method is core to the project’s data collection efforts, we utilized the Bonner Center’s participatory data analysis method, Data Labs, to make meaning of the stories gathered. A presentation about a research project will be shared at the Imagining America National Gathering in October 2025.