Breaking the Silence Creating Acts of Resistance

Partner Pacific School of Religion
Learning Pillar Contemplative Activism
Rigor Level Medium

Storytelling—especially through film—is a powerful act of resistance. This course invites participants to explore how storytelling can be used intentionally to confront injustice, promote solidarity, and advance human dignity, particularly in relation to migration and immigrant communities.

Through engagement with documentary film, personal narrative, and historical memory, participants will examine how storytelling can expose oppression, challenge dehumanizing narratives, and support justice-oriented advocacy. Drawing inspiration from the work of Luis Argueta, the course emphasizes attentive listening to marginalized voices and ethical responsibility in telling stories rooted in lived experience.

The course is practice-focused and participatory. Participants will reflect on their own silences and untold stories, explore the role of film and multimedia in fostering awareness and solidarity, and develop strategies for using storytelling as a tool for education and advocacy. Over the duration of the course, students will create and present a short multimedia story—written, visual, audio, or video—based on a personal or community migration narrative.

In addition to the creative project, participants will develop a practical media resource or toolkit aimed at raising awareness about immigrant rights. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to use storytelling thoughtfully and effectively as a form of resistance, public witness, and transformative engagement within faith communities and the broader public sphere.

Live Sessions

  • February 27th 3:00pm-4:00pm PST/6:00pm-7:00pm EST.
  • March 6th 3:00pm-4:00pm PST/6:00pm-7:00pm EST.
  • March 13th 3:00pm-4:00pm PST/6:00pm-7:00pm EST.
  • March 19th 3:00pm-4:00pm PST/6:00pm-7:00pm EST.
  • March 27th 3:00pm-4:00pm PST/6:00pm-7:00pm EST.
  • April 3rd 3:00pm-4:00pm PST/6:00pm-7:00pm EST.

Learning Objectives

● Understand the relationship between personal narrative, historical memory, and justice
● Analyze how film can confront oppression and promote solidarity
● Reflect on the role of silence and untold stories
● Develop strategies to use storytelling for advocacy and education
● Create and present a short multimedia story based on a personal or community narrative
● Develop a toolkit or media resource for raising awareness about immigrant rights

Course Components

The Power of Storytelling to Overcome Fear and Silence

  • Exploring the Roots of Repression and the Liberating Act of Speaking One's Truth

    10 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Seeing the Invisible | Migration and Labor

  • Making the unseen visible | How film exposes hidden labor and systemic inequality

    10 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Historical Memory and Trauma

  • Understanding how trauma is inherited and resisted across generations

    10 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Humanizing Migration | The Beginning of The Immigration Trilogy

  • Centering human dignity in the face of criminalization and exclusion.

    10 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Bearing Witness and Continuing the Journey

  • Recapping Key Themes | Deepening Reflection | Embracing Future Action

    10 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

From Silence to Voice: Sharing Our Stories

  • Final Project

    10 Minutes
    Assignment
    Lesson Locked

Breaking the Silence Creating Acts of Resistance

Taught by Luis Argueta

Documentary storytelling is a powerful act of resistance. By actively listening to the marginalized telling their lived experiences, we can create spaces where their voices resonate—through films, writing, and other forms of storytelling. In doing so, we can challenge systems of fear, oppression, and exclusion, and help shift the dominant, dehumanizing narratives about immigrants and refugees.

Purchase
Luis Argueta

Meet Your Instructor,
Luis Argueta

Luis Argueta is a Guatemalan American award-winning filmmaker known for his multinational immigrant narratives. His coming-of-age film, The Silence of Neto, is Guatemala’s 1st Oscar submission and is credited as being the inspiration for many of Guatemala’s current young filmmakers. The Guardian newspaper listed Mr. Argueta as one of Guatemala’s National Living Icons, alongside Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu. Argueta is the only filmmaker to receive the Order of the Quetzal, Guatemala’s highest honor. In 2019, he received the Harris Wofford Global Citizen Award from the National Peace Corps Association and was the 2021-2022 Lund-Gill Chair at Dominican University. At the Guadalajara International Film Festival, 2021, he received the The Mayahuel International Guest of Honor Award. He has been a researcher and consultant for Migration Policy Institute since 2017. His series of immigration documentaries:  abUSed: The Postville Raid, ABRAZOS, The U Turn, and Ausencia have made him a noted lecturer on immigration.  His  films can be viewed on-line at www.luisarguetaa.com. 

Join this course’s forum conversations