Transcultural Storytelling

Abstract:Often storytelling is framed as being rooted in a particular culture and told by the flickering fireplace or campfire light. This has invited comparisons with storytellers telling in contemporary multicultural public contexts, such as schools, libraries, and community centers. This is often characterized as a difference between traditional and contemporary storytellers or between traditional and professional storytellers. Here these distinctions are questioned. Instead, a consideration of endocultural and transcultural storytelling is proposed. Zora Neale Hurston's writing and career is discussed as demonstrating the positionality of a transcultural storyteller.