Who Is The Storyteller?

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In the final curation and presentation of my display case, my group and I considered our power in the selection process. In choosing items to represent, we wanted the case to be a collection of objects that current students could identify with– we wanted Kenyon Students to feel a sense of belonging when they saw groups they were involved with. Student life at Kenyon is composed of a diverse range of organizations, such as acappella groups, sports teams, greek organizations, and affinity groups. As our final case only had ten items, the selection process was challenging as we couldn’t incorporate every organization on campus. To combat this, we ultimately included a range of pictures and articles, as our goal was to have students see themselves in the past 100 years at Kenyon, even if they don’t personally belong to the specific organizations that were displayed. Largely, our case can be extended to the entire community, as the objects chosen highlight many of the campus-wide events that helped to create the close-knit community of Kenyon. However, after presenting our work, I am still left wondering if our retelling of the Kenyon student life over the past century has left out any stories that should be brought to life. 

In the final chapter of The Struggle for the People’s King, Hajar Yazhida dissects the #MeToo movement, arguing that White women are leaving out the history of racialized sexual abuse that many women of color have faced. In the 2017 creation of the #MeToo on Twitter by Alyssa Milano, many did not acknowledge the similar work that had been done by Tarana Burke ten years prior. As Milano is a White woman and Burke a Black woman, this interaction publicly symbolized how women have taken the reins of this story. Many women of color feel as though their history of targeted harassment is being actively erased, as their trauma has been whitewashed. Many individuals brought attention to the fact that “White women who had just woken up to realities of racism and sexism [are] taking center stage, speaking over longtime indigenous, Black, and Brown activists.” (Yazhida, 165). Broadly speaking, the narratives of White individuals are consistently told and discussed in the media, while others get left behind. In her chapter, Yazhida claims that to combat this issue, we must restore the truth. She argues that individuals need to use their agency to make the stories of Black and Brown women visible. Similarly, she claims it is necessary to learn the racialized history of sexual abuse and center the narrative around marginalized voices. 

When reflecting on this chapter and the argument made by Yazhida as well as my process of selecting items to be presented in my case, I find myself again considering ideas of representation and agency. More specifically as a White woman, involved in EDM and Club Rugby, I am left wondering if my portrayal of student life at Kenton was accurate and inclusive. When considering the importance of different affinity spaces on campus, our group decided to only represent items from BSU and Hillel, to essentially leave room for other objects. We wanted to include as many different corners of campus as possible, but by doing that we simultaneously excluded many other groups. Additionally, due to the structure of this project, our selection of items encompassed the highlights of these organizations. Therefore, we didn’t suggest the work that Kenyon still has to create even more inclusive spaces. Taking these ideas into account, I think it is important to both discuss our shortcomings due to the constraints of the project, as well as acknowledge the range of organizations we were able to highlight. 


References: 

Yazdiha, H. (2023) The Struggle For The People’s King. Princeton University Press.

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