Routledge Speaking Out: Storytelling for Social Change (Int'l Inst Qualitative Methodology Serie)

Many professionals in health, education, and community service roles are caught in a particular bind of identity―they live in a complex social borderland of credibility and professional authority while experiencing or having experienced the same discrimination, violence or trauma that they are committed to conquering. For some, the disclosure of their own stories of marginalization has become a tool for advocacy, for telling a larger truth; for others, self-disclosure is a more personal action, intended to assist isolated others in developing trust and connection. Linde Zingaro, a lifelong social service worker and activist, interviewed several colleagues who have chosen to speak out in this way, talking with them about their ethics and intentions, and collaborating to identify some of the risks of negative personal and professional consequences for the practitioner. She uses their voices―and her own―to illustrate some of the ways that these people have learned to safely and effectively use the transformative potential of storytelling as significant social action. This examination of speaking out as a meaningful social practice may help other workers, activists, and community researchers in their efforts to be heard in the interests of a more just society. Review "Zingaro's main concern in this work is the effect that speaking out about sensitive or traumatic personal experiences can have on the speaker.... Although Zingaro's book is mainly aimed at practitioners, I would argue that it is useful reading for anyone involved in doing research with people, particularly if they are asking research participants to talk about sensitive topics." --Venessa May, Qualitative Research "Linde Zingaro's deeply moving book is all the proof needed that advancing science is an art form. Speaking Out assesses the strip between Self and Other, and the emotional and political risks and negotiations involved in crossing that territory. Zingaro navigates the geography of disclosure its practice and implications--and illuminates the personal and political costs and benefits of this deeply personal public practice. It is a unique book, and a riveting read." --Lorraine Greaves, University of British Columbia "Linde Zingaro's work is beautifully written and demonstrates an impressive breadth of scholarly research into such diverse fields as philosophy, women's studies, psychology, psychoanalysis, and education. In addition to her theoretical flexibility in using various theorists and theories, she develops new and original concepts and categories in this work, including border workers, and disclosure consequences, among others. Zingaro's study of, and reflections on, how border workers own narratives of struggle, suffering, and overcoming the obstacles of oppression can help others negotiate their struggles and suffering make significant contributions to how we think about methods and practices of social work and education." --Kelly Oliver, Vanderbilt University "With Speaking Out, Linde Zingaro has created an invaluable theoretical and pragmatic resource about the prices we pay to tell the painful truths of our lives. She illuminates the risks and dangers, as well as the gifts and power of disclosure. Complex, strategic, and eloquent, Zingaro offers herself as guide and witness, inviting her readers to engage the necessary complexities of considered disclosure as a foundation both for psychological healing and our political responsibilities to see one another more fully, thereby engaging the painstaking work of changing our selves and our world." --Sandra Butler, author of Conspiracy of Silence: The Trauma of Incest and co-author of Cancer in Two Voices "Zingaro's analysis should be required reading for health professionals who identify themselves as sharing some elements of marginalization with their clients--indeed, all 'wounded healers' can learn when and how to disclose their personal stories safely." --Carol Herbe