Storytelling
What is storytelling?
Storytelling is a powerful communication tool that involves crafting and sharing narratives to convey ideas, emotions, and experiences. It is an art form that has been used throughout human history to entertain, educate, and inspire audiences. Through storytelling, individuals and organisations can connect with others on a deeper level, share important messages, and potentially inspire transformative change.
The storytelling process
For our project, storytelling has offered a chance to learn from urban communities in South Africa and Colombia, highlighting their often overlooked perspectives on crises. This approach challenges traditional ideas about who can create and express expert knowledge.
The storytelling process typically involves several key steps: developing characters, setting the scene, establishing a plot or conflict, building tension, and reaching a resolution or conclusion. In our project, we facilitated a a four-day storytelling workshop for community participants in each city.
We adapted the process across different group sizes and settings in each city, involving from 8 to 15 participants.
The power of storytelling
Storytelling offered a powerful and engaging methodology that fostered deep connections, helped participants to understand and discuss crises through personal and collective narratives, and offered insights that can help to improve crisis response.
The process helped us to explore personal and collective narratives related to various forms of urban crisis, including displacement, violence, economic challenges, and cultural preservation.
The process also built trust among participants as they reflected on challenges and difficulties, highlighting storytelling’s therapeutic potential. All workshops were undertaken with the involvement of local organisations supporting the process.
The project team received expert training in storytelling facilitation from Dr Joanna Wheeler, Founder and Director of TransformativeStory. To learn more visit transformativestory.net