Subaltern Storytelling

Reflections on “a field of post-colonial theory that looks at how the most marginalised people are silenced,” noticing that “we in social change also tend to speak for the subaltern: the ‘suffering subject’ of our stories, victim of injustice but lacking agency to confront it without our intervention.” We’re encouraged to “recognise the agency that exists in communities, which states cannot control” and work with “narrative as something we do together, not something we broadcast.” To do this, ask if you’re “open to being changed by the people you speak with? Or are you just looking to ‘get the message out’?” and notice that “narrative is not something we fixed that emerges from one round of research, but a fluid mosaic of conversations and stories that is constantly evolving.” To truly effect decolonisation, “articulate some sense how we will all live in the future we want to see happen,” but remember that “we cannot rely on ‘magic words’ to change the narratives. Instead, we have to be the narrative.”