Narrative Archive

“20 Years of Research on the Power of Entertainment to Support Narrative Change” offers an attempt to answer some common questions: “How do we really know these strategies are working? Are there key factors that can be culled from existing evidence to shed light on the conditions under which narrative change strategies are most impactful?”, offering rigorous recommendations for both practitioners and funders. (Thank you for the signpost Alice Sachrajda)

…in 8 steps. “Stories that reinforce stereotypes about Africa often arise from the power dynamics between those who are telling the stories and those about whom stories are being told. This practical guide aims to address some of these issues by providing practical, ethical guidelines for storytellers to share their work on the continent.” (Thank you for sharing with us Fenya Fischler)

“For Refugee Week’s 25th anniversary we invite you to celebrate what compassion looks like in action. Together we can create a shared understanding of compassion to ensure we are extending it widely to all….Dangerous anti-migration government rhetoric continues, along with inhumane conditions for asylum seekers…We invite you to show us how arts and culture can help widen our circles of compassion”. The latest polling suggests that efforts like this are working.

“The Camden Imagines publication showcases the ideas and updates of the Camden Imagines Project from the project team, collaborators, Camden Council staff and Camden residents on all things imagination, community power, public policy and public value.” Also see their invitation for local government to invest in municipal imagination.

A brief overview of an effort in the US that sought to “seed a new narrative about why prices were going up”. It details how they “jumped into the conversation” “at a frequency that people can actually hear.” By blending values-led framing with rigorously compiled evidence (which revealed profiteers were bragging about maximised their returns at the expense of hard-working families) they managed to change the conversation and ultimately steer the policy.

A sober but warm reflection on where we are now, and what it might take to make the transition ahead “humane”: one that embraces both grief and joy, the chance for community solidarity in shared work, and the opportunity for people to prove that they are competent to run their own lives.

The final episode of the three part series ‘Tipping Point: The True Story of The Limits To Growth”’, rounds off the tragically foreshortened story of Donella Meadows’s efforts to veer us away from the systemic failures we are beginning to experience today. As the title suggests, Donella left us with big questions, which we are encouraged to retrieve now as we seek pathways together through polycrisis and collapse towards “material sufficiency, long-term security, sustainability, equity, and purpose.”

“Bridging the gap between academic study and impact storytelling for political and social change.” A thorough discussion of what it means to work with narratives in pursuit of pro-social change. It includes a consideration of the language we use in the field, and the need to consider broader audiences as we do. It also explores the role of ‘undernarration’ in harmful narratives and how to balance fact and emotion to promote healthy narratives – a topic in need of further study, so a timely opportunity for academics and practitioners to collaborate.

New research shows a mixed picture on race: 4 in 10 members of the public think some races are naturally harder working than others, yet 9 in 10 people support action to tackle racism. The full groundbreaking Testing Times report – involving 20K participants - gives an insight into the language and information most likely to move people towards anti-racist thinking.

Challenging the “atomised” approach to assessing and responding to misinformation – ”We researchers become so obsessed with labeling the dots that we can’t see the larger pattern they show” – calling for a recognition that “people aren’t influenced by one post so much as they’re influenced by the narratives that these posts fit into.” The answer involves breaking out of silos and learning to participate on the ground, in pursuit of “healthy information ecosystems”.

Witness the tactics and approach of typically progressive narrative change efforts, being adopted and promoted by a more conservative, if contrarian, group. “Corrosive cultural criticism in recent decades has left the coherence of our cultural stories hanging by a thread. Our lack of a common narrative has left us feeling disillusioned and disempowered in a time when humanity is more prosperous, healthy, and better resourced than at any point in history.”

Could the humble conversation be the missing ingredient to mass scale agency-building and climate action? Larger Us think it might be, so in the interest of “expanding our circles of compassion,” they are teaming up with membership organisations across society to train people to hold creative conversations based on “listening, respect, generosity and curiosity.” Their hunch is that people are looking for a different kind of activism: “the kind of activism that gives us a sense of agency and hope rather than helplessness and doom; that welcomes in rather than calling out; and that builds the connection and joy that so many of us yearn for.”