Storytelling for Social Change

Abstract

This chapter argues that narrative can be particularly well suited to transcend the unhelpful polarizations – behavioral versus social change, diffusion versus participatory approaches – that have characterized and restricted global health communication to date. The chapter describes a series of theoretical rationales and cases that can be enlisted to support the conceptualization of storytelling for social change practices and their effects at multiple levels of analysis. Next, it considers the theoretical base and cases on narrative and narration into articulation with the “Scenarios from Africa” process. Culture has been conceptualized as a “static set of never-changing values and norms” to which individuals are subject, rather than as “a complex, dynamic, and adaptive system of meaning” that is constantly evolving under the influence of individuals and collectivities. The theory of narrative and education proposed by cultural and educational psychologist, Jerome Bruner, provides a compelling grounding for this social constructivist perspective.

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