On “More Truth,” the May 27, 2020 episode of the Scene on Radio podcast from Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies, independent journalist Lewis Raven Wallace asks, “Shedding light is only part of the struggle [to seek truth], right?” explaining, “it matters how we shine that light. … [A particular] telling can reinforce the status quo or challenge it, depending on the framing.”1 He concludes that we need to attend to how we present information if we care about the meanings and possibilities attached to the stories we tell. While Wallace's statements specifically address an urgent need for a long overdue reckoning with racial prejudice against Black, Indigenous, and other people of color in the United States, they resonate with us and the discussion we brought forward in our winter 2019 First Word essay, “Beyond Single Stories: Addressing Dynamism, Specificity, and Agency in Arts of Africa.”

Scholars and journalists...

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