Theme: Narrative and Authority
Personal storytelling is everywhere. Whether in marketing, consultancy, counselling, journalism, or politics, people are constantly sharing their or others’ stories to make a point. Storytelling is used, on a daily basis and almost automatically, for moral positioning, conveying experiential knowledge, and engaging in public identity work.
We take a step back to reflect, from a critical distance, on the relationship between narrative and authority. Who has the right to tell stories, and which stories may be told? How is narrative used, overtly or insidiously, to establish, or undermine authority?
Teaming up with the AUTOSTORY project, the Netherlands Winter School on Narrative offers a one-week course consisting of lectures and workshops in which this fraught relationship between narrative and authority is examined.