Storytelling, broadly defined, represents an effort to understand the world. It is, as Peter Brooks has written, “one of the principal ways we organize our experience.” If story, as many scholars have argued, is little more than a sequence of events, storytelling is the process by which we give shape to those events, emphasizing what is most important and essential. While storytelling finds a natural home in the humanities, where the study of literature, history, language, and culture, leads us to good stories told well, it is equally important throughout and beyond the university.
The 2025 BYU Humanities Center annual symposium will focus on the theme of storytelling and its influence across disciplines. This year’s event will highlight how storytelling not only shapes our understanding within individual fields but also serves as a bridge between them. The symposium will feature presentations that examine the role of narrative in fostering dialogue between the humanities and the sciences, influencing diverse pedagogical approaches, and evolving alongside technological advancements. Participants will also explore how storytelling refines our engagement with both written and oral traditions, contributes to civic understanding, and enhances the ways we think and communicate across academic and public spheres.