Re-storying the West

August 31, 2024–September 01, 2027

Re-Storying the West is a three-year storytelling project (2024–2027) that celebrates the voices of everyday Wyomingites and reimagines how the American West is represented and understood.

Stories shape who we are. As novelist Thomas King reminds us, “the truth about stories is that that’s all we are.” Too often, the U.S. West has been defined by outsiders—authors, filmmakers, or tourists—who visit briefly and then represent the region through limited or stereotypical frames. Re-Storying the West offers a different approach: it invites Wyoming residents to tell their own stories, creating a vibrant archive that honors the beauty, complexity, and diversity of life across the state.

The project gathers stories from communities both large and small—from Laramie to Saratoga, Rock River to Buffalo, and many places in between. Each story is collected through a conversation, usually lasting approximately 30 minutes, in which participants share memories, moments, or reflections from their lives.

Through the production process, we concentrate on listening to the storyteller and honoring what they have shared. Our process emphasizes listening, care, and respect for the storyteller’s wishes, which are recorded through a “gift form” that ensures each person retains agency over how and where their story is shared. Stories are carefully produced by project editors who transcribe, lightly edit, and prepare the materials to be published on the project’s website (www.restoryingthewest.org). Because we believe sharing stories is the most human of activities, we resist all use of artificial intelligence (AI) and avoid large language models of machine learning (LLM). Once the recording, transcript, and visuals are prepared, a story ready to go on the website and be shared back to our communities.

By design, Re-Storying the West is situated at the intersection of everyday storytelling and academic inquiry. It draws upon humanities-based questions. What counts as a story? Whose stories are remembered and why? How can sharing and listening be done ethically? We also honor that storytelling is a profoundly human everyday practice. We are firm in our assertion that these stories are not “collected data” to be used by researchers, but rather a celebration of the lived experiences of our friends and neighbors. This dual framework allows the project to build bridges between the university communities and broader Wyoming communities, fostering both public engagement and engaged pedagogy.

The website serves as a public story archive and intentional digital infrastructure for regional community knowledge and memory. Visitors can listen to our podcast, consider multi-media stories and encounter photographs that bring Wyoming’s voices to life. In addition, the website features a Potluck Repository of shared public humanities tools, methods, and materials, all freely available for communities and practitioners to adapt and use. For students and faculty, the project offers opportunities to learn about ethical storytelling, rhetorical listening, and the responsibilities of public scholarship. For community members, it offers recognition and celebration, a way to hear and be heard, to witness neighbors’ experiences, and to see themselves reflected as part of a living and dynamic West.

In its spirit, Re-Storying the West is about honoring the everyday. It shows that stories told in grocery store lines, at bus stops or around kitchen tables are just as vital to understanding who we are as the dominant narratives of history. Through this project, Wyomingites claim their place in shaping the stories of the West—stories that are as diverse, surprising, heartwarming, and enduring as the communities themselves.

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