A conversation on storytelling as cultural investigation

This chapter is presented as a conversation between Antonia Liguori, Fred Dalmasso, a French multidisciplinary researcher, playwright and arts practitioner based in the UK, and Rodriguez Iragena, a storyteller and filmmaker from Rwanda. Antonia and Rodriguez have been sharing ideas about applied storytelling for the social good since 2020, when he spoke at the International Digital Storytelling Conference hosted by Loughborough University. At that time, Rodriguez was on the journey to make his third documentary focusing on how people who committed genocide and their victims are currently living together in his home country. His talk at the conference sparked widespread interest within and beyond the digital storytelling community: what prompted reflections from the international audience was the unique angle of his place-based, community-driven filmmaking practice and his ever-expanding interest in the role of the listener in shaping the narrative. At that point Fred joined the conversation too: their ongoing interdisciplinary dialogue started focusing more on how to apply various forms of storytelling as tools for reconciliation and this chapter offers an insight into this collective journey of shared discovery.