In the previous activities, you learnt about the approaches, actions and strategies that were necessary to bring about legal reform in NI. You learnt about the importance of re-framing an issue as one of human rights, of knowing about and monitoring the political landscape around an issue, of mobilising a wide range of people and perspectives and finally that the work of defending human rights is never done. In this final activity, you’ll explore the role of storytelling and telling your story.
This activity should take about 10 minutes to complete.
We return to the interviews with Cara and Stella. As you watch the video below, consider the following question:
Both Stella and Cara agree that people telling their stories and telling people’s stories is a vital part of the political process. Not only are stories important for people in power to be able to understand the context, but as Stella says, telling stories connect those in power to the issue and holds them accountable. The story enables them to comprehend that they have the power to change the story: to bring about a different ending. Indeed, Stella describes the Westminster debating chamber as ‘a space for storytelling’.
Cara makes the important point that though for some people, telling your story can be validating and empowering, it is regrettable that people have to publicly tell and retell their traumatic stories in order to bring about change. Cara recognises the importance of such stories but also that they can be a necessary evil.
Well done! You have now finished all the learning in this topic area. Want to learn more? Just go back to the Topics Landing Page and click on another topic. Or you can delve deeper into this topic by taking a look at the resources we’ve compiled.