{"id":78103,"date":"2026-06-08T08:49:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78103"},"modified":"2026-06-09T07:52:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T14:52:34","slug":"story-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/story-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Building connections through storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we hear the word\u00a0\u201clab,\u201d\u00a0we\u00a0probably think\u00a0of test tubes and fluorescent lights.\u00a0But at one\u00a0NAU lab, research is done through art and storytelling.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Social Science Community Engagement\u00a0Story Lab\u00a0(SSCL)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was\u00a0established\u00a0as a collaborative\u00a0research hub.\u00a0Led by anthropology professor and founding director\u00a0<\/span>Lisa Jane Hardy<\/span><\/b>,\u00a0it\u00a0focuses on public scholarship\u00a0and\u00a0collaborative writing, working\u00a0with individuals and groups to help\u00a0them\u00a0document and communicate their experiences through creative and\u00a0research-based\u00a0methods, while supporting communities and improving public health.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do a lot of work with storytelling to help people communicate what they\u00a0know and what they\u00a0do,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cIf someone has data\u00a0from their social science research\u00a0or\u00a0related\u00a0personal experience they want to write in some\u00a0form,\u00a0we can\u00a0help them learn how to do that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which is exactly what\u00a0the\u00a0lab\u00a0recently did\u00a0for\u00a0<\/span>Stuck Community Acupuncture, a program\u00a0in northern Arizona that\u00a0uses a justice model\u00a0in tribal lands.\u00a0Thanks to a grant from Arizona Community Foundation, Hardy collaborated\u00a0with the program\u2019s executive director,\u00a0Nox Chetcuti,\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0write\u00a0their story<\/span>\u00a0in the article\u00a0\u201c<\/span>Health Justice Two Ways: Examples from the Field<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have\u00a0published\u00a0quite a few stories over the past few years,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cWe have a project called Rapid Inquiry During Global Events\u00a0(RIDGE), and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0continuing the work on that. We have worked with Flagstaff youth to hear how people\u00a0deal with\u00a0global events very broadly and have implemented art-based research\u00a0on that project.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When\u00a0anthropologists\u00a0do community engagement research and practice, their\u00a0goal\u00a0is\u00a0to figure out how to\u00a0improve\u00a0the\u00a0system.\u00a0Hardy\u00a0feels\u00a0the\u00a0best\u00a0way to do\u00a0that\u00a0is\u00a0to\u00a0build\u00a0connections.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen\u00a0we finish manuscripts about how we care for people and for ourselves while\u00a0we\u2019re doing research and practice, one of the things we do is view our science as\u00a0a means toward finding patterns that we can use to make change and to\u00a0build connections through creativity,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cWith a justice model of research and collaboration, people are always in control of what they want to share or not\u00a0and in\u00a0control\u00a0of\u00a0their data.\u00a0We listen in\u00a0a way that is very organic,\u00a0and we are\u00a0open\u00a0to\u00a0learning\u00a0the answer to questions\u00a0that we\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0necessarily ask in the first place.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Colle<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Story Lab\u00a0also\u00a0does\u00a0public\u00a0scholarship,\u00a0supporting\u00a0faculty and students in the development of academic writing, research\u00a0projects\u00a0and publications, serving as both a creative and scholarly environment where research and artistic expression are treated as connected practices rather than separate fields.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently,\u00a0the lab\u00a0conducted focus groups in\u00a0the\u00a0MakerLab\u00a0at\u00a0Cline Library to talk to people about their\u00a0perceptions\u00a0of\u00a0the world and what is happening around them.\u00a0Participants created collages and used transcriptions from interviews\u00a0and discarded library books\u00a0to create art. Hardy said\u00a0these guided discussions\u00a0will become part of the data they will analyze to look at trends and patterns that will later become articles and\u00a0possible recommendations\u00a0for policy and wellness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Water<\/a>
Water color painting by Mariessa Fowler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat I am finding right now is that the Story Lab is a place where we can face imminent local and global challenges and do it with connection and community and creativity,\u201d Hardy said. \u201cArts-based research is a good way to find hope and imagination, not because it fixes the problems of the world, but because it allows people to connect, talk and learn from each other. A lot of people are not feeling very hopeful, so if we have places where we can build relationships with each other and do creative things together while conducting research, that feels powerful to me.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read some of the\u00a0<\/span>public-facing articles the\u00a0Story Lab\u00a0has published by visiting their website.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Editor’s note: Feature image by Taylor Shweikert<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we hear the word\u00a0\u201clab,\u201d\u00a0we\u00a0probably think\u00a0of test tubes and fluorescent lights.\u00a0But at one\u00a0NAU lab, research is done through art and storytelling.\u00a0\u00a0 The\u00a0Social Science Community Engagement\u00a0Story Lab\u00a0(SSCL)\u00a0was\u00a0established\u00a0as a collaborative\u00a0research hub.\u00a0Led by anthropology professor and founding director\u00a0Lisa Jane Hardy,\u00a0it\u00a0focuses on public scholarship\u00a0and\u00a0collaborative writing, working\u00a0with individuals and groups to help\u00a0them\u00a0document and communicate their experiences through creative and\u00a0research-based\u00a0methods, while…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":78104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78103"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78135,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78103\/revisions\/78135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}