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Вкратце

Storytelling is far more than telling a tale; it’s a way of organizing reality — and political power. A good story can build group solidarity, develop a shared analysis of a social problem, and up participation.

The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimetre, the way . . . people look at reality, then you can change it.

— James Baldwin

In the last few hours you’ve probably heard, told, or thought of several dozen stories: a news report, a love song, an online video, a daydream, a piece of gossip among friends. Stories are a fundamental aspect of human consciousness: Through their insights into cause and effect, they are how we make sense of the world around us, and we can tap into that power in our efforts to make social change (see: PRINCIPLE: Think narratively).

In order to bring about social change, people must come together to recognize shared challenges, figure out solutions to those challenges, identify allies and enemies, and build the relationships needed to apply pressure and win. All of that happens in no small part through stories.

Seen in this light, storytelling is not just a form of publicity, but also a means of organizing. Storytelling is never just a top-down transmission of ideas to a passive audience; at its best, storytelling goes in all directions. People respond to your stories; they may contest them or mash them up; they share their own stories in response; or pass your stories on in their own words.

Storytelling is not just a form of publicity, but a means of organizing.

Popular storytelling of this sort changes the storytellers just as much as it changes the audience. When people share their personal stories on a social issue, they become more invested in that issue because it is now theirs.

Consider a few uses of popular storytelling:

To learn: GlobalGiving collected narratives from partner communities in Africa as a way of evaluating the needs and strengths of those communities. Those stories influenced GlobalGiving’s direction, and the youth they hired to collect stories got more involved in their communities.

To organize: When 2008 Obama campaign volunteers told stories of “self, us and now” to each other, they learned how to speak with voters in personal terms about the issues of the day, and build an ever-growing base of supporters. Now, community groups worldwide use the Public Narrative method developed by organizer and educator Marshall Ganz.

To educate: In the It Gets Better Project, responding to tragically high rates of suicide among LGBTQ youth, tens of thousands of LGBTQ adults and their allies told their personal stories as a way of encouraging LGBTQ young people to stay alive long enough to get to the good stuff. The project reached youth directly, got adults personally involved in suicide prevention, and raised money for a much-needed hotline.

To advocate: Sex workers in South Africa, intellectually disabled people in Moldova, and other groups funded by the OSF Health Media Initiative have told their stories through videos, publications, and other media to persuade policymakers to recognize their rights. People most directly affected became the protagonists of their own stories, rather than being relegated to the status of secondary characters while their helpers or advocates took top billing. The same is true for prisoner families and former prisoners sharing their stories on the Nation Inside platform, as part of the movement to end mass incarceration. For example, the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, hosted on the Nation Inside platform, used stories as part of a successful effort to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the exorbitant cost of phone calls from US correctional facilities.

In all these instances, storytelling is a creative endeavor. Every time we tell a story, we create something. In the process of articulating what we can and want to accomplish together, we discover ourselves and each other. When we tell stories about our attempts to correct injustice, we stay hopeful and strong. Telling stories is not just the way we talk about our challenges, it is one of the vital means we have for meeting those challenges.

Ключевая теория

Framing

If a frame is a filter for interpreting the world, a story is an embodiment of that interpretation. For example, one conservative frame in the US is “law and order,” and that frame can be applied to any number of issues, from crime to immigration to guns. A story that fills that frame might be, say, immigrants coming across the border to steal our jobs and sell drugs. Progressives can use better frames and tell more compelling stories that describe the world as it is, and that also inspire a more hopeful vision to strive for. For example, a more progressive frame might be “a nation of immigrants.” Stories about the incredible sacrifices immigrant families make in search of better lives while adding to the rich tapestry of American life, would catalyze that frame — and along the way, show how immigrants often take jobs that many Americans don’t want, or create small businesses that in turn create even more jobs.

Ключевой принцип

Make new folks welcome

Preaching to the choir is vital — as they say, pastors do it every week. But if your vision for justice is inclusive and democratic, then you’ve got to include a wider circle of people. Sharing compelling stories with new people, and inviting them to share their own, makes them feel involved and appreciated, and part of a community or movement.