Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Sarah Hirschman was born in Lithuania and educated in France and the United States in literature and philosophy. Sarah is the founder of the program People and Stories / Gente y Cuentos in the US, France, and Colombia. She now lives in Princeton, New Jersey with her husband, political economist Albert O. Hirschman.

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PEOPLE AND STORIES / GENTE Y CUENTOS

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................ixPREFACE.....................................................................................................xiiiINTRODUCTION................................................................................................xviiENCOUNTERS THROUGH LITERATURE...............................................................................1AN UNUSUAL MEETING..........................................................................................1STORIES AND STORY TELLING - A TRADITION.....................................................................3THE CHALLENGE OF ADULT EDUCATION............................................................................5ORIGINS.....................................................................................................11PAULO FREIRE................................................................................................12OTHER THINKERS..............................................................................................15NEW READER RESPONSE.........................................................................................17A NEW VENTURE...............................................................................................19PHOTOS......................................................................................................21THE ACTORS: STORIES, COORDINATORS, GROUPS...................................................................27STORIES.....................................................................................................27SELECTION...................................................................................................27CRITICAL WORK...............................................................................................31FOUR CATEGORIES.............................................................................................33Poetic Landscape............................................................................................34Contrasts and Confrontations................................................................................38Shadows.....................................................................................................42Themes......................................................................................................43QUESTIONS...................................................................................................47COORDINATORS................................................................................................53GROUPS......................................................................................................56GROUP CONFIGURATIONS........................................................................................60Overcoming barriers across generations......................................................................60Overcoming barriers between communities.....................................................................66Overcoming ethnic barriers..................................................................................69UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER THROUGH LITERATURE..................................................................75THE ROAD TRAVELED...........................................................................................85APPENDICES..................................................................................................89Organization................................................................................................90Profile of Groups...........................................................................................92Examples of stories read and discussed......................................................................94BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................97Works that influenced the development of the People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos project.....................97Short stories cited.........................................................................................108

Chapter One

AN UNUSUAL MEETING

"Ah, a rainbow is always good news: When the Lord wanted to let Noah know that the flood was over, that the flood would not return, He sent a rainbow over the clouds," said Pedro, a Puerto Rican man, one night, in the basement of a church in Trenton, New Jersey. A short story by Arguedas, the Peruvian writer, had just been read aloud in Spanish to a group from the local Latino community. In it a shepherd clutching his beloved dog flees from a burning hacienda; he trusts that somehow, way up in the highlands, he'll find a place to work; if not, he can always go higher, up the rainbow, to God who will take care of him and his dog.

Pedro had responded to the announcement of a new type of gathering to be held once a week in the rooms of a Catholic church where Sunday mass was celebrated in the Spanish language. "Everyone is welcome," said the recruiting notice, "you need only know Spanish to enroll." The man who recalled the rainbow as the Lord's sign to Noah had never before joined the discussion. Pedro was shy, inhibited, embarrassed about not being able to read, but now he spoke up. Something in the Peruvian story struck a responsive chord in him. Others in the group, somewhat more educated, were startled by the evocative quality of his remarks. Pedro spoke more often after that night.

The kind of comments that the Arguedas' story generated are often heard during People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos sessions, a program which organizes readings and discussions of short stories with persons who have never had access to literature. Trust in the power of literature to open up to different readings, and trust in the ability of persons to draw on their life experience to enter the world of fiction, have been at the root of this enterprise.

Gente y Cuentos held in Spanish started informally as a weekly affair. People came not only to hear and discuss stories but also to find companionship with others who spoke Spanish. Soon, the success of the program brought the local community college, which was designing a new inner-city curriculum, to sponsor the sessions. "Graduation" was celebrated with a distribution of certificates, food cooked by the participants, and even dancing to the sound of salsa. The local paper printed a story with unusual photos: urban Latino dwellers sitting around a table in animated discussion of a short story written by one of their authors. Some participants became more self-confident and began to wander over to a High School Equivalency program (GED) given elsewhere in town and to inquire about new English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses.

People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos was born.

After more than thirty five years of experience with the program, I want to revisit its beginnings, describe its growth, and take stock of the outcomes.

How did this unlikely enterprise take place at all? How could complex short stories be read and discussed by a group of adults whose education did not prepare them for so demanding a task? Could this activity which at first only wanted to bring a new group of readers to enjoy literature result indirectly in an innovative approach to what we call education?...