Everyone has a story to tell. Telling stories helps define what it means to be human and fosters empathy. The Clark University Higgins School of Humanities’ Fall Dialogue Symposium, Tell Me a Story: Exploring the Power of Narrative, will explore storytelling as a form of personal expression, a scholarly methodology and as an act of empowerment.

Following is a list of symposium events that are free and open to the public. Unless noted, events take place at Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons at Clark University.

Narrating Race: A Community Conversation
7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7
Enter into the space where words, images and stories of race intersect to explore the role of narrative in the way we talk about race. Betsy Huang, associate professor of English and chief officer of diversity and inclusion at Clark University, will facilitate the discussion.

What Do You See? An Artist Talk and Exhibition Opening
7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 15
Photographer Wing Young Huie has captured images of the realities of American society over his 35-year career. By exploring “authentic selves” and “idealized realities,” each photograph tells multiple stories about the subject, the artist and the viewer. His exhibition will run from Oct. 15-Dec. 17.

Caregiving as Moral Experience
7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 20
Dr. Arthur Kleinman will discuss the relationship between narrative and caregiving and the ways in which the humanities and interpretive social sciences matter for doctors and other caregivers.

In the Workshop of the Mind: The Hidden Helpers of Early Modern Authors and Scholars
4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22
Using examples from paintings, manuscripts and printed books, Professor Ann Blair will explore how collaboration was just as (and perhaps more) widespread and essential to scholarship during the early modern period than it is in current times. Blair is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at Harvard University.

Fright Night in the Higgins Lounge
7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 29
Clark University professors Gino DiIorio, Jay Elliott and Jennifer Plante will offer readings of their favorite scary stories and explore the power of narratives that play upon our most basic fears and vulnerabilities.

Poetry and History: An Evening with Natasha Trethewey
7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 4
Atwood Hall
United States Poet Laureate (2012-14) and Pulitzer Prize-winner Natasha Trethewey will read poems from Thrall, Native Guard, Bellocq’s Ophelia and other works.

Defamation A Play by Clark Alumnus Todd Logan (1975)
7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov.11
Razzo Hall, Traina Center for the Arts
Race, class, religion and law collide when an African American businesswoman from Chicago’s South Side sues a Jewish real estate developer from the North Shore for defamation in this courtroom drama by playwright and author Todd Logan.

Slavery on their Minds: Representing the Peculiar Institution in Contemporary Children’s Picture Books
4 p.m., Thursday, Nov.13
A growing number of children’s picture books recount the history of American slavery and are making their way into classrooms and libraries. Professor Raphael Rogers will explore the connection between these texts and the historical scholarship about the “peculiar institution.”

Fragile Fatherhood: What Being a Daddy Means in the Lives of Low-Income Men
7 p.m., Wednesday, Nov.19
Unwed fatherhood is denounced as one of the defining social problems of today, but does the narrative of the “deadbeat dad” tell the whole story? Kathryn Edin, one of the nation’s leading poverty researchers, uses ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews and mixed-method approaches to go beyond quantitative research and uncover deeper truths.

For more information, call (508) 793-7479 or email HigginsSchool@clarku.edu. More events are listed at clarku.edu/higgins-school-of-humanities/calendar/index.cfm.