Making the Invisible Visible: Applying Digital Storytelling for Immersive, Transformative and Anti-Colonial Learning

• Published in: The British Journal of Social Work
• Main Authors: Sunderland, Naomi, Woods, Glenn, Dorsett, Pat
• Other Authors: Griffith University Teaching and Learning Grants
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2020
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz161; http://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article-pdf/50/2/483/33013844/bcz161.pdf

Abstract This article examines the potential for digital storytelling in students’ local environments to produce transformative, anti-colonial learning. Using a process of mindful, embodied and emplaced observation, social work and human services students at one Australian university were asked to create a digital story about the visibility and valuing of First Nations’ peoples, culture and country in their local area. This article reports on a mixed-methods research evaluation of transformative learning outcomes from that assessment. It details the Indigenist and intercultural conceptual framework that underpinned the assessment and research evaluation. This article provides resources, findings and insights that can assist social work educators and professionals to adapt the digital storytelling process for their own contexts.