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Understanding Communities and Culture through Personification

Friday, Oct. 11, 2024
1:00pm to 3:00pm

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Oct.
11

This session examines overcoming the tendency to stereotype which involves recognizing and surfacing personal and societal biases. Stereotypes are often reinforced through public portrayals of "typical" community members.

Identifying these patterns through personification helps highlight how assumptions limit broader understanding. Engaging with individuals from diverse backgrounds, both conforming to and defying stereotypes, expands perspectives. Sharing stories and counterexamples disrupts the dominant narratives that perpetuate stereotyping. Building connections across different communities, particularly between rural and urban populations, can create new opportunities for understanding and dismantling stereotypes. This process promotes a deeper appreciation of diversity and reduces the barriers created by stereotypical thinking. Improvisation, audience feedback, and performance are therefore used to demonstrate how persona creation can offer deeper insights into cultural dynamics and social experiences in research.

University of Alberta (Tory Building)

Tory 12-15

6-5 Humanities Centre
Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E5