We’re getting to work on the next event for The New Narrative. The theme is going to be Identity. We're looking for speakers to share a personal story about Identity in a 10-15 minute talk format. If you have any thoughts on potential speakers, please let me know.
We wanted to explore the theme of Identity from three main ideas:
1. Identity in the Modern World: How have the internet, consumerism and other cultural forces changed our notions of identity? What have we learned? In what ways have we become more universal? In what ways have we become more tribal? What are the pros and cons of each?
2. Cultural Identities: What does it mean to have a cultural identity? How do different cultures understand identity? How do cultural belonging and cultural prejudice play with and against each other? What are the pros and cons of cultural reinforcements of identity? =
3. Personal Identity: How do we understand our own personal identities? To what degree are we born with identities, earn them or assume them in different stages of life? How does that shape the course of our lives, how other people perceive us and how we perceive ourselves?
We’re open to other ideas but these are the main set of concepts we want to explore.
The key to the New Narrative is storytelling and vulnerability. We want speakers with direct conflicts, experiences or challenges around Identity that they are willing to talk about. Some examples might include somebody who has had their notion of identity challenged, either internally or externally; a person who struggled to express themselves or faced consequences for being who they are; or perhaps somebody with conflicting sense of identity that they struggle to resolve.
There’s no set date yet. We’re looking at everything from late August to mid October. It’s going to depend quite a bit on the availability of the speakers.
Here is a link to all the themes we’ve got planned for The New Narrative. The next two themes are projecting to be Family and Work/Money.