Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st Century Social Movements

From the venue:

This event takes place in person at Charis and on Crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. This event is free, but registration is requested. Click here to register to attend virtually. Click here to register to attend in-person. Please read the in-person event guidelines at the bottom of this page to be sure you can participate in the event. 

Charis welcomes Charlene Carruthers to moderate a conversation with editors Shanelle Matthews and Marzena Zukowska and anthology contributors for a discussion of Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st-Century Social Movements, a timely and instructive handbook for telling stories that change the world. More details forthcoming on contributors that will be joining us. 

The twenty-first century has seen a profound shift in the global sociopolitical and economic landscape, shaped by seismic interventions ranging from the War on Terror to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2000 and 2024, social movements like Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, climate justice, the Fight for $15, Palestine liberation, health care for all, and queer and trans resistance have illuminated a new narrative--one rooted in an inclusive vision of society, driven by a newly politicized and radicalized generation. This shift did not happen by chance. Movement workers have meticulously crafted communications and narrative strategies, honing their political messaging and storytelling to seize narrative power in today's struggles.

In Liberation Stories, today's foremost progressive and leftist communicators, organizers, artists, journalists, and academics share their collective wisdom in one powerful volume. Featuring in-depth case studies of both contemporary and historical movements, Liberation Stories distills successful theories, strategies, and tactics for anyone wanting to understandand participate inthe diverse initiatives currently shaping our society.

As far-right and conservative movements gain traction worldwideattacking our books, our bodies, and our democraciesLiberation Stories emerges as a vital resource for constructing the world we envision, one story at a time.

About the Editors

Shanelle Matthews collaborates with social justice activists, organizations, and campaigns to inspire action and build narrative power for social justice and liberation. She is the former communications director for the Movement for Black Lives and the Black Lives Matter Global Network. Shanelle founded the Radical Communicators Network, a global community of practice for social movement communications workers. She is also a former Activist-in-Residence and faculty member of Freedom Scholars at The New School. Today, she teaches full-time as a distinguished lecturer at the City College of New York in the Department of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies. Her courses include Narrative Power in the Black Radical Tradition, Rhetoric of Liberation: The Role of Narrative Power in Contemporary Movements, and Black Women's Resistance: Narratives of Safety and Survival. She is the co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st Century Social Movements (New Press, June 2025). She lives in Brooklyn.

Marzena Zukowska is an organizer, communications strategist, and the co-­ founder and co-­ director of the UK-­ based immigrant rights organization POMOC. For a decade, Marzena has developed narrative and organizing strategies for leading social and political movements in the United States, the UK, and Europe. They are the former media director at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and a former leadership team member at the Radical Communicators Network. Their work has been published in two ­ anthologies—­ Queer Activism After Marriage Equality (Routledge) and Asylum for Sale: Profit and Protest in the Migration Industry (PM Press)—and they co-­ authored New Brave World, a report on the field of pop culture for social change in the UK. They are the co-editor of the forthcoming anthology Liberation Stories: Building Narrative Power for 21st Century Social Movements (New Press, June 2025). Marzena is a queer, nonbinary Polish immigrant who was born in Białystok, Poland, and grew up undocumented in Chicago, United States.

The Radical Communicators Network (RadComms) is a community of practice for emerging and experienced movement and communications workers. They build narrative power for a just and liberatory future.

About the Moderator

Charlene A. Carruthers (she/her) is a writer, filmmaker, community organizer, and Black Studies PhD Candidate at Northwestern University. A practitioner of telling more complete stories, her work interrogates Black governance, Black and Indigenous relationality, and Black feminist abolitionist geographies Charlene wrote, directed, and co-produced The Funnel, a short film, which received the Queer Black Voices Award at the 35th Annual aGLIFF Prism Film Festival She is author of Unapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.

The event is free and open to all people, but we encourage and appreciate a donation of $5-20 in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Donate on Crowdcast or via our website: www.chariscircle.org/donate or in person at the event.

Charis Books is a fully wheelchair accessible space with on site van accessible parking, two ramps, and additional overflow accessible parking nearby. Additional accessibility information can be found on the Accessibility page of our website. 

In-person event guidelines:

All attendees must wear a face mask during the event.
We will begin seating people at 7:00 PM ET.
Please note, seating is first come, first served, unless you reach out to info at chariscircle.org with an accessible seating request.
This event will be live-streamed via Crowdcast. Click here to register to attend virtually.
As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request specific accessibility accommodations, please contact info@charisbooksandmore.com or call the store at 404-524-0304.

Please contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org. 

By attending our event, whether in person or virtually, you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Unsolicited sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to Charis staff immediately or email info@chariscircle.org.