Community storytelling is a new way of looking at storytelling. It uses story to connect members of a community. By listening to stories and telling their own stories, participants in a community grow closer to their fellow members.
Traditional cultures relied on storytelling within the oral tradition to save each other's stories. They told their stories and they were remembered and retold by others. This technique depends on the relationship between the teller and the listener. Not only does the listener receive the story, but also the listener is charged with keeping the story alive. The story exists as long as someone lives to tell it.
Community storytelling strengthens communities in many ways. It identifies the values of a community. It provides common experiences. It strengthens the commitment of the members to the group.
Community storytelling helps communities define their values. Groups usually form because for some purpose. They have some commonality that they hold important. Whether a community is beginning or has existed for years, storytelling provides a way of members examining their reasons for participation in the group as well as making conscious the values of the community as a whole. New groups determine their values. As groups begin, they often struggle to define who they are and what their purpose is. Whether it's teams within a corporation or groups of volunteers who are thrown together to solve a common problem.
It provides a shared experience that members can build on later. Common experiences by groups often create communities. Wartime has spawned many groups of armed service personnel who create community around that shared experience. Storytelling provides one common experience that the community can use a reference point in their collective experience.
It supports strengthening the commitment of members to the group. By becoming more away of their own personal values and how they relate to the values of the group, participants in community storytelling become more committed to the group.
Storytelling has existed for as long as people have spoken. People have always created words that another would hear. Storytelling creates those direct connections between people and strengthens communities as result.
This webpage summarizes some of my thinking about how community leaders can use storytelling to strengthen their communities. It's a work in progress and I'd enjoy talking with you more about it. Send me email at myth@thegloaming.net or send your reactions to the Your Story page.
E-mail at myth@thegloaming.net
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copyright 2002 Brian Herod