The Narrative Turn
Artificial Intelligence | Communication | Health + Wellness
Medicine | Neuroscience | Self-Improvement | Social Change
Today, “narrative” is a buzzword — but it’s been a slow build.
Other disciplines began “turning” toward narrative more than 50 years ago.
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Narrative
“The narrative turn” is a movement of studying narrative to better understand a different subject or phenomenon, for example: studying narrative to improve medical outcomes, communicate more effectively or create social change.
While narrative scholars ask “what is narrative and how does it work?” interdisciplinary scholars ask “how does narrative impact this other subject, and how can we use what we know about narrative to improve outcomes?”
The narrative turn has generated new practices such as narrative therapy, conferences such as Narrative Matters, publications such as Storyworlds and Narrative Works, and practical methods such as Story-based design.
Learn more about the narrative turn in Revisiting the Narrative Turns by Matti Hyvärinen.
Artificial Intelligence
AI-Generated Story
What is the relationship between artificial intelligence and narrative? Can AI write stories?
AI STORIES is a five year project exploring how narrative archetypes shape AI outputs.
Narrative Group at USC Institute for Creative Technologies is pursuing research to advance technologies for automated storytelling and narrative understanding.
Why Computer AI Will Never Do What We Imagine It Can by Angus Fletcher was published in Narrative vol. 30 no. 1, 2022.
Communication
Strategic Storytelling | The Storytelling Boom
Organizational communications practice that includes on storytelling, described as the storytelling boom.
Storytelling: Bewitching the Modern Mind (2007) criticizes the use of narrative in professional communications.
Critical Approaches to the Storytelling Boom by Maria Mäkelä and Hanna Meretoja criticizes the use of storytelling by storytelling consultants.
Strategic storytelling uses storytelling for corporate communication.
Health + Wellness
Narrative Gerontology | Narrative Therapy
How does narrative impact our health and wellness?
Wonderworks by Angus Fletcher offers literature as a technology that can be scientifically shown to alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui, while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change.
The Literary Reading and Mental Well-Being research coalition at International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL) studies effects of literature on wellbeing.
Narrative Therapy was developed by Michael White and David Epston, authors of Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends.Training and events are offered at The Dulwich Center.
Journal article: Narrative Care and Engagement in Social and Health Care: Enhancing Identity with a Small Story Approach
Narrative Gerontology approaches aging from the fundamental principle that life is a story.
Medicine
Narrative Medicine
How does narrative impact medical outcomes?
Narrative Medicine master and graduate degrees are offered at Columbia University, University of Southern California and Harvard.
Neuroscience
Narrative Cognition
Is narrative fundamental to how we think?
Storythinking: The New Science of Narrative Intelligence by Angus Fletcher explains how and why our brains think in stories.
Neuroscientist David Eagleman’s podcast Inner Cosmos explores narrative’s effect on the brain in the episode Why do brains love stories?
Research
Storylistening | Yarning
How can narrative improve research?
Yarning methodology is a research method using yarning, “an Indigenous style of conversation and storytelling” (Dawn Bessarab and Bridget Ng’andu, Yarning about Yarning as a Legitimate Method in Indigenous Research)
Storylistening is “the theory and practice of gathering and analysing narrative evidence to inform decision-making, especially as part of a multidimensional evidence base.” (Sarah Dillon, Claire Craig and Alex Tasker, From Storytelling and Narrative Persuasion to Storylistening and Narrative Evidence.)
Self-Improvement
Creativity | Storythinking | Futures Thinking
How can narrative be used for self-improvement?
Creative Thinking: A Field Guide to Building Your Strategic Core by Angus Fletcher uses storythinking to increase creativity for US Army officers.
Primal Intelligence by Angus Fletcher explores storythinking to succeed during times of uncertainty.
Social Change
Narrative Change | Narrative Empathy
How does narrative interact with social change?
Narrative Change is a media strategy used by social change organizations to shift public opinion on a social issue. Learn more.
Story-based Design is a design and innovation method using storytelling to design solutions for more-than-human stakeholders, like natural ecosystems.
FLiNT (Futures Literacy Through Narrative) explores narrative as a tool to improve futures thinking.