Snapshot
Move large numbers of people to action by exchanging personal stories that help build a sense of community around shared values & experiences.
"If I am not for myself, who will be?
And if I am for myself alone, what am ‘I’?
And if not now, when?"
— Rabbi Hillel the Elder
Origins
Marshall Ganz, a long-time organizer in the migrant farmworkers movement in the US, and currently a Senior Lecturer at Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, developed the public narrative methodology in the 1990s as part of a values-based community organizing framework.
A good story has the power to change the world. The public narrative methodology trains organizers, activists, and community leaders to share their personal stories more effectively, in order to build a sense of community around shared values and experiences, and ultimately to move large numbers of people to action on an issue or cause.
Public narrative is the why of organizing — the art of translating values into action through stories.
Public narrative is useful when you are forming a new team or expanding a group to bring them together around values and choices. It is also used when you are preparing your community or team to deal with a challenge, whether internal or external to the organization. The most obvious use of narrative is to move people to action; the less obvious use is to decide strategy. Often, hidden in people’s stories of what choices they made, and what calls them to leadership, is the answer to what our strategy should be (see: METHODOLOGY: Battle of the story). Public narrative is also used to awaken people to injustice, and to their own agency in confronting it, especially within communities or groups that have been oppressed for centuries.
Public narrative is made up of three interwoven stories, that, once honed, the storyteller should be able to tell in a total of under five minutes:
First is the story of self: I tell my personal story so that you understand what calls me to leadership on this cause. What challenges have I faced and what choices have I made that show why I am moved to leadership on this cause? In my story, I describe the results of my choices and shed light on what gives me hope.
Second is the story of us: I seek to learn the stories of members of my community and I weave them together around the values that we share. This story describes who we are, what our shared challenges are, and some milestones in the journey we’ve walked so far.
Third is the story of now: What is the price of inaction? I share images portraying the consequences of inaction and other images showing what our action can achieve. After creating a sense of urgency and hope, I end my narrative with a specific and doable call to action.
Public narrative is a practice of leadership; it’s the why of organizing — the art of translating values into action through stories.
How to use
A skill session that trains leaders in public narrative would generally proceed in three steps: (1) show examples of good narrative, (2) explain the elements of each of the three stories — self, us, and now, and (3) have the participants develop their own narrative and coach each other’s stories.
For a big group, a full-day session would be appropriate; for a small group and a good trainer, a few-hours-long session would suffice.
For a more in-depth introduction to public narrative and how to use it in practice, check out Marshall Ganz’s foundational text, Public Narrative, Collective Action, and Power. In particular, this worksheet will help guide you through the process.
Real world examples
James Croft uses a public narrative framework while speaking on LGBTQ bullying and suicide at a protest in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
President Barack Obama uses the public narrative “self-us-now” story structure at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Nisreen Haj Ahmad shares her public narrative (story of self, us, and now) to explain what moves her to be part of the BDS movement.
Maisan Hamdan explains why she joined the “Refuse, Your People will Protect You” campaign and calls on others to join as well.