tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/storytelling-10309/articlesStorytelling – The Conversation2024-03-26T12:50:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253732024-03-26T12:50:01Z2024-03-26T12:50:01ZVideo games like Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley can inspire players to look after nature<p><em>Warning: this article contains spoilers</em></p>
<p>“Progress! What progress? You’ve removed the river. Destroyed nature. Driven the animals out!” said Snufkin to the park-keeper in Melody of Moominvalley. </p>
<p>The recent release of the video game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9chKLZbHsc">Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley</a> marks a continued rise in video games engaging with the climate and ecological crises. However, unlike <a href="https://theconversation.com/civilization-vi-gathering-storm-shows-video-games-can-make-us-think-seriously-about-climate-change-111791#:%7E:text=As%20the%20game%20and%20the,such%20as%20droughts%20and%20storms.">other games</a>, the plot of Melody of Moominvalley, as mentioned in the trailer, is “about restoring harmony with nature”.</p>
<p>The story begins with Snufkin leaving Moomintroll during his winter hibernation. Snufkin returns in the spring to find an absence of animals (and ones that have remained are frightened or actively fleeing), a dried-up river and sporadic patches of deforested woodland. It becomes clear early on that something is not right with Moominvalley. </p>
<p>Restoring harmony with nature against exploitative forces is key to the game play and narrative. The Moomin’s hibernation patterns have been exploited, with construction and deforestation taking place while they are asleep for winter. </p>
<p>Indeed, as the game progresses, players discover that the river has been dammed to support the irrigation of newly constructed parks across the valley. This initiative has been commissioned and enforced by another Moomin, the park-keeper, who has grand visions of what progress should look like. </p>
<p>Throughout the game, players must help Snufkin navigate and raise his inspiration level – similar to “experience points” or XP in other games – to complete tasks. Inspiration is raised by engaging with nature, by running through bushes or playing music for animals, for example. This mechanism intentionally makes the players interact with nature to release Moominvalley from the exploitative park-keeper.</p>
<p>Two themes run throughout Melody of Moominvalley and represent the challenges associated with the dominant ways in which our nature connection is understood in the west. </p>
<p>First, the idea that nature will find its own harmony and ecological balance without major human interference runs throughout Moomin history. This is demonstrated by the long success that the Moomins and animals have had co-existing in Moominvalley before the park-keeper became involved. </p>
<p>Much like prominent environmental activist groups have often proclaimed, humans (or in this case, Anglo-centric capitalist Moomins) appear to be the main problem. Throughout the game, each park must be destroyed by Snufkin and then a cutscene (an extra video that pops up) shows the flourishing of diverse trees and flowers. This implies that removing human interference heals nature. </p>
<p>The plot also neatly demonstrates how competing visions of desirable futures are embedded in the making and shaping of our daily lives and relationships with nature. The park-keeper believed that what he was doing was right for Moominvalley. It is not until the end of the game that he realises the value of living in harmony and balance with nature. His perspective shifts significantly. </p>
<p>While playing as Snufkin, a human, we as players are encouraged to reflect on our own relationship with nature. Snufkin’s wandering characteristics and ecocentric tendencies lead him to restore nature for no reason other than the intrinsic beauty and balance of Moominvalley and its inhabitants. We believe this contrasts with the usual extraction, command and control of nature that other games, such as Sid Meier’s Civilization VI or the Fallout series, often portray. </p>
<p>Framing in video games can play a crucial role in helping us recognise the value of nature and question our existing relationships with the ecological world – rather than just simplifying the challenge we are facing. </p>
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<p>In Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, nature, music and the arts are sources of inspiration, cultivating perspectives that support a more attentive, compassionate and responsible relationship with nature as demonstrated through Snufkin’s intentions and then later on the park-keepers change of heart.</p>
<p>Another game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpvHqAsNVH0">Abzu</a> makes us engage with underwater life and its exploitation by technology – ironically, while playing as a robot. Unlike Melody of Moominvalley, it takes us beyond the simplistic statement that humans should not interfere with nature or that technology is bad for the environment. Instead, it tries to show us that the problem mostly lies in the characterisation of this relationship. </p>
<p>In 2019, Alenda Chang outlined in her book <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/playing-nature">Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games</a> the many ways that video games – through future-making, attention to scale and non-human perspectives, for example – are supporting us to engage more fruitfully with ecological challenges and critique. Video games can and are connecting people to the potential of eco-recovery.</p>
<p>Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley does simplify the complex politics of nature recovery. You can destroy a park and nature is easily restored, but there is much merit in how this is a core focus of the game’s narrative. Our challenging relationships with nature are becoming more mainstream in social and cultural arenas through video games. There’s a lot of promise in using video games to illuminate and illustrate the complex challenges of our climate and ecological change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225373/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda is part of the Public Engagement Laboratory for Nature and Society, an ongoing collaboration between the Science, Society and Sustainability (3S) Research Group at the University of East Anglia and Natural England. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucas Friche does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, restoring harmony with nature against exploitative forces is key to the game’s narrative.Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda, Senior Research Associate, Environmental Sciences, University of East AngliaLucas Friche, PhD Candidate, Communication Studies, Université de LorraineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2254412024-03-20T13:59:10Z2024-03-20T13:59:10ZFashion needs stronger storytelling that is more inclusive, relevant and responsible<p>The fashion industry could not exist without storytelling. Compelling and aspirational stories conveyed through catwalks, campaigns and social media are the stuff that make garments fashionable, fostering a strong desire to be seen wearing them.</p>
<p>Fashion’s stories can spread positive messaging about issues that affect us all. In 2020, Stella McCartney’s Paris show featured models wearing cartoonish animal costumes. This humorous stunt emphasised a serious point about the “planet-friendly” brand’s <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a31191131/stella-mccartney-mascot-paris-fashion-week/">pledge</a> not to use leather, fur, skins, feathers or animal glues.</p>
<p>But more often, the darker, more unpalatable truth is that fashion’s storytelling drives overconsumption. And it defines unrealistic beauty expectations that exclude many by perpetuating western standards about what is normal and acceptable.</p>
<p>As a cultural historian who researches fashion, I believe the industry has to do better to effect change, and this can be achieved through stronger, more inclusive and responsible storytelling. </p>
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<h2>Fashion and world problems</h2>
<p>According to recent fashion industry <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/sustainable-fashion-communication-playbook">reports</a>, storytelling is becoming more prominent as brands seek to demonstrate their social responsibility by forging deeper relationships with consumers. The increased significance of storytelling within fashion can be linked to two themes that have defined social and political debate about the world’s post-COVID recovery: self and society.</p>
<p>Consumers want more meaningful experiences that enable them to explore their identities and connect with others. Fashion is the ideal medium for this, especially during a time of social and political unease. The industry’s global reach means that visual cues and messaging conveyed through clothing campaigns can be easily shared and understood.</p>
<p>The Business of Fashion’s report, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion">The State of Fashion 2024</a>, links the increased importance of storytelling to consumers being “more demanding when it comes to authenticity and relatability”. People want to buy brands that share and support their values.</p>
<p>The consumer group most concerned to align their lifestyle choices and beliefs with the companies that clothe them is Gen-Z – people born between 1996 and 2010 – who “value pursuing their own unique identities and appreciate diversity”. </p>
<p>The increasing prominence of storytelling in fashion is also linked to the industry’s global sway and corresponding social responsibility. Organisations like the UN are <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/sustainable-fashion-communication-playbook">increasingly clear</a> that the fashion industry will only help tackle the global challenges emphasised by COVID if it uses its influence to change consumers’ mindsets.</p>
<p>The uneven social impact of the pandemic, which <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2021/06/inequality-and-covid-19-ferreira.htm">emphasised longstanding inequalities</a>, provided a wake-up call to take action on many global problems, including climate change, overconsumption and racial discrimination. This makes the fashion industry, which <a href="https://fashinnovation.nyc/fashion-industry-statistics/">contributes 2% to global GDP</a>, a culprit but also a potential champion for driving change. </p>
<p>The British Fashion Council’s <a href="https://www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk/Innovation/Diversity-Equity-Inclusion--Belonging">Fashion Diversity Equality & Inclusion Report</a>, published in January 2024, highlights “fashion’s colossal power to influence, to provide cultural reference and guide social trends”. Similarly, the UN’s <a href="https://www.unep.org/resources/publication/sustainable-fashion-communication-playbook">Fashion Communication Playbook</a>, published last year, urges the industry to use its “cultural reach, powers of persuasion and educational role to both raise awareness and drive a shift towards a more sustainable and equitable industry”.</p>
<p>To do this, the UN’s report urges storytellers, imagemakers and role models to change the narrative of the fashion industry. They are asked to educate consumers and inspire them to alter their behaviour if it can help create positive change. </p>
<h2>Fashion’s new stories</h2>
<p>Since the pandemic, there is evidence the fashion industry has begun to change the content and form of the stories it tells, chiefly by putting a human face on current global challenges. Large-scale, entrenched social problems are being explored through real-life stories. This can help people to understand the problems that confront them, and grasp their role in working towards overcoming them.</p>
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<p>One example is Nike’s <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/nike-move-to-zero-sustainability">Move to Zero campaign</a>, a global sustainability initiative which launched during the pandemic in 2020. Instead of endless statistics and apocalyptic warnings about crisis-point climate emergency, Nike encourages people to “<a href="https://www.nike.com/nl/en/product-advice/product-care">refresh</a>” sports gear with maintenance and repair. Old Nike products that have been recreated by designers are sold through pop-ups. When salvage is not possible, Nike provides ways for people to <a href="https://www.nike.com/nl/en/sustainability/recycling-donation">recycle and donate old products</a>.</p>
<p>By encouraging relatively small changes that align the lifecycle of a product with consumers’ everyday lives, Nike’s campaign challenges the traditional idea of clothes being new, immediate and ultimately disposable by making change aspirational. </p>
<h2>Narrative hang-ups</h2>
<p>While some fashion brands are rethinking the stories they tell, my <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/hangups-9781350197268/">recent book</a>, Hang-Ups: Reflections on the Causes and Consequences of Fashion’s Western Centrism, explains that some of fashion’s most powerful and harmful stories are deep-rooted.</p>
<p>Concepts defined during the 18th and 19th centuries – civilisation, anthropology, sexology – still influence how the fashion industry engages with age, gender, race and sex. Its drive for newness and the way it pushes the idea that purchasing expensive brands brings automatic status is also based on traditional western social values that fit poorly with 21st-century perspectives and priorities.</p>
<p>The persistence of centuries-old attitudes is apparent too in Nike’s Move to Zero campaign, however well-intentioned. While the initiative is clearly conceived to influence consumer behaviour in a positive way, it still doesn’t fundamentally address what the fashion industry is and does. But at the very least, it accepts that fashion functions through high consumption and the sense of status that owning and wearing a brand confers.</p>
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<h2>Throwing everything out</h2>
<p>One of the key points I make in my book is that effective change will be more likely if we understand how the industry developed into what it is today. This calls for more audacious storytelling that critiques notions of normality, acceptability and inclusivity.</p>
<p>One example is Swedish brand <a href="https://avavav.com/en-gb/about">Avavav</a>, which commits itself to “creative freedom driven by humour, entertainment and design evolution”. In February 2024, the brand’s <a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/gallery/avavav-fashion-show-trash-photos-1236222394/avavav-runway-milan-fashion-week-womenswear-fall-winter-2024-2025/">Milan catwalk show</a> concluded with models being pelted with litter. This experimental performance explored prevailing social media stories by calling out online trolls and highlighting the hurt of hate speech, within and beyond the fashion industry.</p>
<p>Naturally, it <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/62036/1/avavav-aw24-fw24-beate-karlsson-milan-fashion-week-mfw-trash">caused a sensation</a> and was widely covered in the media. A stunt perhaps, but it got people talking and drew attention to designer Beate Karlsson’s message about online hate. Clearly, compelling and innovative storytelling has the power to change minds and behaviour.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Wild does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Representing 2% of global GDP, the fashion industry must use its cultural reach to drive a shift towards a more sustainable and equitable industry.Benjamin Wild, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Narratives, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2237692024-03-06T13:23:23Z2024-03-06T13:23:23ZFive fiction books to inspire climate action<p>Numerous books warn us about the climate crisis, and many offer solutions. If everyone read all of these books and behaved accordingly, perhaps the planet would be home and dry. However, most people don’t read them. Most people read romances, whodunnits or superhero stories.</p>
<p>To address this, I set up the Green Stories project in 2018 with free <a href="https://www.greenstories.org.uk/writing-competitions/">writing competitions</a> that encourage storytellers to embed climate solutions into stories aimed at mainstream readers across a variety of formats, from radio plays to novels. </p>
<p>The focus on solutions derives from my research into the effects of <a href="https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/eco.2019.0023#:%7E:text=Readers'%2520reflections%2520(N%2520%253D%252091,proenvironmental%2520intentions%2520than%2520catastrophic%2520stories.">catastrophe v solution-focused climate fiction</a> on readers and found that solution-focused stories were more likely to inspire <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-missing-ingredient-to-fight-the-climate-crisis-positive-fictional-role-models-177684">pro-environmental behaviour</a>.</p>
<p>I have also written a novel called <a href="https://www.dabaden.com/habitat-man/">Habitat Man</a> – a rom-com with a hint of cosy mystery which weaves in entertaining and educational green solutions such as wildlife gardening, seasonal food, and natural burials. <a href="https://www.dabaden.com/habitat-man-in-research/">A survey of 50 readers</a> showed that 98% of of them adopted at least one green solution as a result of reading it.</p>
<p>Many climate-fiction writers fear that an optimistic approach could lead to complacency. But my <a href="https://www.greenstories.org.uk/research-on-how-people-respond-to-stories/">research</a> suggests eliciting fear is more likely to lead to either paralysing climate anxiety, denial, or self-protective behaviours (think buying up all the toilet rolls). </p>
<p>One size doesn’t fit all, but those who are inspired to climate activism by the dystopian approach are already well served by the market. Currently, few novels exist which focus on solutions or which engage readers who prefer genre fiction.
I’d love to see more such stories on the bookshelves. </p>
<p>Here are my top five recommendations, including recent favourites and upcoming releases that inspire environmental behaviour change.</p>
<h2>1. Fairhaven</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.greenstories.org.uk/fairhaven/">Fairhaven</a> is a novel of climate optimism by Steve Willis and Jan Lee set in Malaysia. Through the eyes of an engineer turned celebrity, it sets out a blueprint for how low-lying countries can protect themselves against rising sea levels and store carbon.</p>
<p>This conforms to a new term gaining popularity – <a href="https://www.dabaden.com/social-science-fiction-or-thrutopia/">“thrutopian” fiction</a>. Such fiction presents positive visions of what a sustainable society might look like if we do it right and shows how we can get there.</p>
<h2>2. The Ministry for the Future</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/kim-stanley-robinson/the-ministry-for-the-future/9780356508832/">The Ministry for the Future</a> by Kim Stanley Robinson also takes a <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thrutopia.life/&source=gmail-imap&ust=1710162042000000&usg=AOvVaw00EYaX22oE6w1QYodW4-E2">thrutopian approach</a> in that it imagines a United Nations ministry that must lead the human race to a sustainable future.</p>
<p>The author covers all aspects of how we might get there, from technology and engineering to harnessing the power of finance. There are disasters along the way, but it provides a plausible outline of how we might address some of our more intractable challenges. </p>
<h2>3. Green Rising</h2>
<p>Fiction can warn of the dangers of wrong turns. <a href="https://www.walker.co.uk/Green-Rising-9781406384673.aspx">Green Rising</a> by Lauren James is young adult fiction about teenagers with superpowers. It’s a romantic thriller and a call to arms for climate action.</p>
<p>We may not all have the superpowers of the young protagonists, but it’s not hard to make the connection to what we can do. I like the way that this narrative warns of the dangers presented by billionaire enthusiasts who are content to let our beautiful planet die and divert resources towards space age dreams of mass planetary expansion.</p>
<h2>4. Finding Bear</h2>
<p>You can get two-for-one with children’s fiction, which is often read aloud to young children and so engages parents too. <a href="https://www.hannahgold.world/finding-bear">Finding Bear</a> is a sequel to Hannah Gold’s heartwarming adventure story, The Lost Bear. </p>
<p>April, the young daughter of an Arctic researcher, returns to Svalbard when she discovers a polar bear she once befriended has been shot and injured. April has agency – she challenges the adults, stands up for the Arctic wildlife she loves and follows her instinct. Without her relentless drive, change may not have happened. The underlying message – that every one of us has a valid voice, no matter how young or insignificant we may feel – shines through. </p>
<h2>5. No More Fairy Tales</h2>
<p>This Green Stories project teamed up climate experts with experienced writers to create an anthology of 24 short stories, <a href="https://habitatpress.com/no-more-fairy-tales/">No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save the Planet</a>. Each story and climate solution links to a <a href="https://www.greenstories.org.uk/anthology-for-cop27/solutions/">webpage</a> where readers can find out about the solutions that inspired them. Most stories adopt the thrutopian approach. </p>
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<span class="caption">No More Fairytales includes 24 stories, with a focus on solutions.</span>
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<p>One story imagines eight people in a citizen’s jury debating the most effective climate policy, and then there’s a murder. This combines the universal attraction of the whodunnit with raising awareness of the most transformative climate solutions. </p>
<p>This story has been adapted into a full-length stage play. A condensed dramatic monologue version, <a href="https://www.greenstories.org.uk/theatre-in-education/">Murder in the Citizens’ Jury</a>, will be performed in <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/murder-in-the-citizens-jury-tickets-838482653187?aff%3Doddtdtcreator&source=gmail-imap&ust=1708971981000000&usg=AOvVaw3BripYVkCGhiY6IIWxxOW3">Southampton on April 20</a> to coincide with Earth Day, when the audience will vote during the on-stage citizen’s assembly.</p>
<p>The setting itself is a climate solution. Representative democracy in an age of misinformation and vested interests, dominated by four-year electoral cycles, may turn out to be constitutionally incapable of initiating radical climate policies. </p>
<p>Rebooting our democracy to prioritise long-term decisions could be a vital part of the transition to a sustainable society and compelling stories like this connect people to alternative future possibilities. </p>
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223769/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Denise Baden is affiliated with Habitat Press and the University of Southampton</span></em></p>Climate stories that focus on solutions are more likely to inspire positive environmental action.Denise Baden, Professor of Sustainable Practice, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188262023-12-17T19:17:07Z2023-12-17T19:17:07ZGhosts, grit and genius: the most gripping podcasts of 2023<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565059/original/file-20231212-21-kwukxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C26%2C6000%2C4535&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.slq.qld.gov.au/viewer/IE1596465">State Library of Queensland</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite <a href="https://slate.com/business/2023/12/podcasts-layoffs-spotify-heavyweight-stolen-amazon.html">downturns</a> at the corporate end of town, podcasts again this year proved to be a powerful medium for new voices and previously overlooked stories.</p>
<p>As a judge of the Walkleys and New York Festivals, I listened to a lot of content. I was struck by how open this medium is still to newcomers, and how a passion project can outgun the big names (some of whom were <a href="https://freelancecafe.substack.com/p/why-i-left">victims this year of their own hubris</a>). </p>
<p>Lovers of imaginative audio will be disappointed by the recent cancellation of the “documentary adventures” show <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000176d">Lights Out</a>, produced by small but stellar UK company <a href="http://www.fallingtree.co.uk/about/">Falling Tree</a>. Falling Tree has been an exceptional mentor of new talent such as this <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rgzz">luminous reflection</a> on family and loss by Talia Augustidis. Happily, nascent outlets such as <a href="https://www.audioflux.org/">Audio Flux</a> and <a href="https://www.soundfields.org/about">Sound Fields</a> promise fresh artistic delights. </p>
<p>Here, then, are my podcast picks of 2023 for your summer listening pleasure.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/michelle-obama-podcast-host-how-podcasting-became-a-multi-billion-dollar-industry-142920">Michelle Obama, podcast host: how podcasting became a multi-billion dollar industry</a>
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<h2>1. First Eat with Nakkiah Lui</h2>
<p>Even for a versatile playwright/actor/director such as Nakkiah Lui, this podcast has a challenging remit: to investigate how Lui’s food habits and body image as an Indigenous Australian might link to identity and impacts of colonialism. </p>
<p>She and producer Nicola Harvey stitch together a sprawling narrative that digs into Lui’s family history and draws on global academic research to traverse Australia, creating vivid aural landscapes. </p>
<p>The podcast’s excavation of exploitation and cultural erasure evokes shades of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ remarkable opus, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/reparations/">The Case for Reparations</a>. </p>
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<h2>2. Dying Rose</h2>
<p>Dying Rose investigates in forensic detail how poorly the justice system treated the deaths of six young First Nations women. Host Douglas Smith from the Adelaide Advertiser puts his Indigeneity explicitly in the frame, telling listeners: </p>
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<p>our normals are not the same […] I’ve been to more funerals of relatives than I can count. Sometimes it feels like these deaths in our community get written off.</p>
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<p>Smith gains deep and empathetic access to the bereaved families. Being an Indigenous journalist starkly informs his frustrated interactions with police.</p>
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<h2>3. Nobody Dies Here</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ohmydogpodcast.com/nobodydiesherepod">Nobody Dies Here</a> takes us inside Melbourne’s medically supervised injecting room, perhaps not the most appealing premise. </p>
<p>What makes this podcast so good is its total absence of judgment or earnestness. The genuine curiosity and empathy of host/producer Michelle Ransom-Hughes humanises both addicts and healthcare workers, making us lean into their stories, rendered even more engaging by assured production. </p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/3vgS2jnyCyY1enq3pC9CWD?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>4. The Lawyer, the Sniper and the NSW Police</h2>
<p>Authenticity is a buzzword in podcasting and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-lawyer-the-sniper-and-the-nsw-police/id1652022946">this indie offering</a> has it in spades. </p>
<p>The hosts are real people, not media professionals, telling gripping stories of the injustice they suffered as police workers: former police lawyer Lina Nguyen was raped by a cop she trusted; Mark Davidson was a sniper at the Sydney Lindt Cafe siege in 2014. </p>
<p>Their powerful testimony is beautifully shaped and sound designed by former ABC operatives Gretchen Miller and Judy Rapley.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/2kVSWiIIQdgap6BQ6j0YzN?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>5. Rupert, The Last Mogul</h2>
<p>Our very own podcast version of Succession, <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/contributor/rupert-the-last-mogul">Rupert, The Last Mogul</a>, may not have the snarling Brian Cox and his codependent kids, but host Paddy Manning of Schwartz Media convincingly traces the evolution of Rupert Murdoch from rebel to ruthless autocrat via insightful interviews and chilling archival evidence of his geopolitical manoeuvrings. </p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1C0gyy5SA2kYTfc1yd5Xu3?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>6. The Kids of Rutherford County</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/podcasts/serial-kids-rutherford-county.html">The Kids of Rutherford County</a> by Serial Productions and the New York Times investigates the shocking incarceration of mostly black children in Tennessee, some kept in solitary confinement for trivial misdemeanours due to the crusading arrogance of a white judge. </p>
<p>The judge is taken on by a likeable, shambolic lawyer, Wes, in a classic underdog battle narrated by Meribah Knight of Nashville Public Radio in what has become Serial Productions’ trademark host-heavy style. </p>
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<h2>7. The Retrievals</h2>
<p>That style is also evident in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/podcasts/serial-the-retrievals-yale-fertility-clinic.html">The Retrievals</a>, a jarring exploration of malpractice at a fertility clinic at Yale, linked to opiate addiction. Host Susan Burton eschews the chatty trope established by Sarah Koenig in the original Serial, opting for a more <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2023/08/retrievals-serial-podcast-nyt-review.html">clinically detached tone</a> that foregrounds patients. </p>
<p>The exposition can be dense, such as an 18-minute monologue in episode four when Burton recounts observations by staffers and others who won’t go on tape. Despite such obstacles, the series builds a shattering picture of how women’s suffering is downplayed, even by educated, privileged women such as those undergoing egg retrievals at this elite institution.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/5eeRTW5Mxsi104smDTO9qw?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>8. The Girlfriends</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-girlfriends-118226591/">The Girlfriends</a> begins frivolously with a bunch of women reminiscing about their ill-fated romance with the same rich, charming and seemingly eligible bachelor, Bob. </p>
<p>It shifts gears to unpack a psychopath and his coercive control of first his wife and, after her suspicious death, these women: the eponymous girlfriends. One of them, a psychologist called Carole, narrates with real heft. </p>
<p>The storytelling is elevated by well-crafted production by UK network Novel, which includes a moving choral tribute to victims of domestic violence. </p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1OSSUxqvqJ6wP09i7aBduL?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>9. You Didn’t See Nothin</h2>
<p>From the opening 20 seconds, where we hear Obama embracing victory in 2008 while host Yohance Lacour listens from jail, <a href="https://invisible.institute/ydsnpodcast">You Didn’t See Nothin</a> is special. A Chicago playwright who did ten years for selling weed, Lacour revisits the bashing of a black boy in the city’s South Side in 1997 and interrogates racism, power and his own life story with a particular poetry and presence. </p>
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<h2>10. The best quick listens</h2>
<p>For seasonal fun, <a href="https://wondery.com/shows/ghost-story/">Ghost Story</a> is narrated with panache by British journalist Tristan Redman, whose wife’s great-grandmother may have been murdered in the house next door to where he grew up. </p>
<p>For an unsettling twist, try <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/793/the-problem-with-ghosts/act-one-9">Ghost Industrial Complex</a>, a mini-episode of This American Life by Chenjerai Kumanyika, hip-hop artist, academic and host of award-winning podcast Uncivil, a Black rewriting of the US civil war. It sees Georgia ghosts through historically questioning eyes. </p>
<p>Staying with departed souls, in a year where we have lost, far too soon, two sublime poet-musicians, Shane MacGowan and Sinéad O’Connor, marvel at one who is left. <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/mccartney-a-life-in-lyrics">McCartney: a Life in Lyrics</a> is an <a href="https://bingeworthy.substack.com/p/one-celebrity-podcast-too-many-how?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share">accidental podcast</a> made by the Beatle with Irish poet Paul Muldoon that captures the sheer wonder that still drives this musical genius, now into his 80s. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-the-pogues-shane-macgowan-perhaps-proved-himself-the-most-important-irish-writer-since-james-joyce-218038">With The Pogues, Shane MacGowan perhaps proved himself the most important Irish writer since James Joyce</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan McHugh was a judge with the Walkley Foundation, which awarded the Walkley award for Audio Long Form Journalism to Dying Rose in 2023. She has had academic exchanges with podcast host Chenjerai Kumanyika and worked at the ABC with sound engineer Judy Rapley.</span></em></p>Podcasts again this year proved to be a powerful medium for new voices and previously overlooked stories.Siobhan McHugh, Honorary Associate Professor, Journalism, Consulting Producer, The Greatest Menace, Walkley-winning podcast, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2195672023-12-13T13:32:25Z2023-12-13T13:32:25Z‘Good Times’: 50 years ago, Norman Lear changed TV with a show about a working-class Black family’s struggles and joys<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565080/original/file-20231212-15-wc43rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C0%2C2335%2C1605&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Esther Rolle, right, and John Amos starred in the pathbreaking 1970s Black sitcom.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-actors-john-amos-as-james-evans-sr-and-esther-news-photo/180965295?adppopup=true">Moviepix via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I loved watching <a href="https://apnews.com/article/norman-lear-died-87300f0e49b54c05803ab315dfdf9933">Norman Lear</a>’s trailblazing television shows when I was growing up in Dalzell, South Carolina, in the 1970s.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070991/">Good Times</a>,” my favorite, debuted on Feb. 8, 1974 – nearly 50 years ago. CBS aired the show about the daily struggles and triumphs of the working-class Evans family until Aug. 1, 1979. </p>
<p>Lear, who <a href="https://apnews.com/article/norman-lear-died-87300f0e49b54c05803ab315dfdf9933">died at 101 on Dec. 5, 2023</a>, forever changed sitcoms. His characters were more diverse, and their predicaments included situations that had previously been out of bounds for humorous TV programs, such as <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/norman-lear-producer-sitcoms-obituary-180983380/">child abuse, unemployment and alcoholism</a>. As a result, they more accurately reflected modern life in America than their counterparts that predominated through the 1960s.</p>
<p>“Good Times” stood apart from Lear’s other successful comedies because it featured, as Lear put it, the “<a href="https://variety.com/2021/tv/spotlight/all-in-the-family-spinoffs-the-jeffersons-good-times-1234878187/">first full black family on television</a>.”</p>
<p>I have been researching “Good Times” and other <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=HhQ5hiwAAAAJ&citation_for_view=HhQ5hiwAAAAJ:5nxA0vEk-isC">shows with primarily Black casts</a> since 1989. Along the way, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the show’s strong female characters and its many nods to Black popular culture.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The catchy ‘Good Times’ theme song emphasized both hardship and resilience.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Compelling characters</h2>
<p>“Good Times” starred actress <a href="https://digitalarchives.broward.org/digital/collection/p16146coll16/id/45/rec/12">Esther Rolle</a>. She had previously been cast as a domestic worker with the same name but in a different city in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068103/">Maude</a>,” another popular show Lear produced. “Maude” was also a spinoff – its <a href="https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/maude">main character originated</a> on “<a href="https://theconversation.com/norman-lears-70s-tv-comedies-brought-people-together-to-confront-issues-in-a-way-gen-z-would-appreciate-219375">All in the Family</a>,” Lear’s first breakthrough hit.</p>
<p>On “Good Times,” Rolle’s character, Florida Evans, was a loving wife and mother. She was married to James Evans Sr. Her hardworking and easily angered husband was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/07/archives/good-times-will-drop-male-parent-black-media-coalition-protests.html">played by John Amos until 1976</a>.</p>
<p>Their children included J.J. – James Jr. – the eldest son and a <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/05/ernie-barnes-sugar-shack-painting-good-times-marvin-gaye-1235023123/">talented painter</a>. He was played by stand-up comedian <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0907858/">Jimmie Walker</a>. The gangly young man <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544598/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-good-times">won viewers’ devotion</a> by frequently <a href="https://youtu.be/b5rKZs6HnB4">shouting “dyn-o-mite!” to express his excitement</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0822304/">Bern Nadette Stanis</a> had the role of Thelma, the middle child and only daughter. She aspired to be a doctor, and her beauty attracted many suitors her parents found unsuitable. Michael, the militant youngest son who often expressed his indignation over social justice issues starting as a young tween, was played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0141876/">Ralph Carter</a>.</p>
<p>The actress <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0238840/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Ja'net DuBois</a> rounded out the core cast as Willona Woods, the Evans’ fashionable, sassy neighbor who was virtually another member of this boisterous and tight-knit family. Other actors rotated in and out, including a <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/janet-jackson-little-sister-good-140000791.html">very young Janet Jackson</a> cast as Willona’s adopted daughter, Penny.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Good Times’ episodes had themes that were relatable to all viewers, including sibling rivalry and conflict between parents and their older children.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Familiar folks</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/scratchin-and-survivin/9781978834835/">Black characters in “Good Times” looked and sounded real</a> to Black viewers. Also, Florida had authority in her home, just as her husband, James, did.</p>
<p>The Evans family and Willona resonated with me because they authentically presented African American culture on the small screen. Their speech, hairstyles, clothes, dance moves and music were recognizable to me as a young Black girl.</p>
<p>The cast regularly referenced Black pop culture icons, including <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/ebony-magazine/">Ebony magazine</a>, the comedian and <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/flip-wilson-1933-1998/">variety show host Flip Wilson</a>, and the <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hayes-isaac-1942-2008/">composer and musician Isaac Hayes</a>.</p>
<p>“Good Times” also made a mark because Black women had agency on and off the set. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/09/arts/television/norman-lear-good-times-the-jeffersons.html">Rolle openly shared her concerns</a> with Lear and other producers about the show’s direction.</p>
<p>Rolle wanted more stories that focused on the show’s female Black characters. And she got them.</p>
<p>Thelma was the first Black teenage girl and Willona was the first Black female divorcée on prime-time television. Both characters were interesting, funny and beautiful.</p>
<h2>Race’s role</h2>
<p>One way that “Good Times” differed from Lear’s other Black-cast sitcoms was the role that race played.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068128/">Sanford and Son</a>,” which revolved around a Los Angeles junk dealer and his adult son, and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072519/">The Jeffersons</a>,” in which the audience saw a successful Black entrepreneur and his wife “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnS9tt5yGuc">movin’ on up</a>” to a fancy Manhattan apartment, the protagonists disliked and distrusted white people. And they let everyone know it. </p>
<p>The Evans family, on the other hand, were mostly cordial and welcoming in their interactions with the white characters who infrequently appeared in “Good Times.” They also turned distant and aloof when racism intervened, as happened in the episode “<a href="https://subslikescript.com/series/Good_Times-70991/season-2/episode-23-Thelmas_Scholarship">Thelma’s Scholarship</a>.”</p>
<p>Thelma and her family are initially thrilled by the prospect of getting a full ride to a boarding school in Michigan. But they reject the opportunity in disgust when it turns out she would have become a token Black student rather than being valued for her academic achievement and potential.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Thelma beams while telling her family about her shot at a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Normal people’s problems</h2>
<p>“Good Times” also broke ground because the Evanses lived in poverty. Their fictional, cramped two-bedroom apartment was in Chicago’s very real <a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/cabrini-green-homes">Cabrini-Green Homes</a>, which the <a href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/12/15/cabrini-green-a-history-of-broken-promises/">city has since demolished after years of neglect</a>.</p>
<p>The hassles and heartaches tied to their housing problems often became part of the plotlines. </p>
<p>In contrast, typical TV families in the 1950s and 1960s were white, middle class and suburban. </p>
<p>These included the Nelsons in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044230/">The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet</a>,” the Andersons in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046600/">Father Knows Best</a>” and the Stones in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051267/">The Donna Reed Show</a>.” </p>
<p>The Nelsons, Andersons and Stones, however, also had some things in common with the Evans family. </p>
<p>For example, Betty Anderson in “Father Knows Best” contemplated marrying her boyfriend in the episode “Vine Covered Cottage,” as did Thelma in “Thelma’s Young Man.” Michael dealt with a bully in “<a href="https://subslikescript.com/series/Good_Times-70991/season-2/episode-24-The_Lunch_Money_Rip-Off">The Lunch Money Rip-Off</a>,” as did Bud Anderson in “<a href="https://subslikescript.com/series/Father_Knows_Best-46600/season-2/episode-29-Bud_the_Boxer">Bud, the Boxer</a>.”</p>
<p>“Good Times” showed that Black families had many of the same problems and concerns as white families.</p>
<h2>‘Good Times’ reboot</h2>
<p>I believe that “Good Times” lives on in contemporary depictions of 21st-century, urban, Black, working-class nuclear families. Netflix’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10945036/">The Upshaws</a>” is the most recent example of a two-parent, Black, working-class nuclear family with children. </p>
<p>Like Lear’s comedies, “The Upshaws” is packed with situations that would have been out of bounds before Lear redefined TV sitcoms – such as adultery and gay central characters. </p>
<p>And, as it happens, “Good Times” itself is being reincarnated.</p>
<p>“Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane and NBA star Stephen Curry joined with Lear in 2020 to <a href="https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/good-times-netflix-animated-adaptation-of-70s-comedy-series-everything-we-know-so-far/">executive-produce an adult animated reboot</a>.</p>
<p>The series, slated for release in 2024 on Netflix, will follow a new generation of the Evans family 50 years after it first showed up in American living rooms. Lear will reportedly make a posthumous <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/12/norman-lear-cameo-netflix-good-times-animated-series-1235655123/">cameo appearance</a> in it.</p>
<p>I hope a new generation of viewers will find as much to revere in the new “Good Times” as I have in the old one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela M. Nelson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Norman Lear brought the first nuclear Black family to prime-time television in 1974.Angela M. Nelson, Associate Professor of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170742023-11-30T13:35:42Z2023-11-30T13:35:42Z‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ became the surprise hit of 2023 by upending conventional wisdom about what gives video games broad appeal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562215/original/file-20231128-26-2w9re0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C7%2C4977%2C3285&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The role-playing game has sold millions of copies since its August 2023 release and is one of the highest-rated video games of all time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-baldurs-gate-logo-of-a-video-news-photo/1683467136?adppopup=true">Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few predicted that the smash hit video game of 2023 would feature old-school game mechanics, hours of brooding cutscenes and a vexing learning curve.</p>
<p>Yet “Baldur’s Gate 3,” a 20-year-old title based on a 50-year-old role-playing game, has already become one of the <a href="https://gamerant.com/best-video-games-all-time-baldurs-gate-3/">highest-rated</a> video games of all time.</p>
<p>“This is a very specific niche of game,” admitted <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/larians-baldurs-gate-3-team-is-10-times-bigger-than-when-it-made-divinity-original-sin/">Swen Vincke</a>, the CEO of Larian, its developer. “We’ve never been about the money.” </p>
<p>Nonetheless, since Larian released the title in August 2023, the company <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/hasbro-stock-price-videogame-baldurs-gate-3-1762f357">has been raking in the money</a>. And it has done this with a rare focus on elements like story and character, <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-RPG-standards-swen-vincke-interview/">upending the industry’s conventional wisdom</a> about what it takes to create a blockbuster game.</p>
<h2>Going against the grain</h2>
<p>“Baldur’s Gate 3” was underestimated, in large part, because it is old-fashioned. </p>
<p>It’s based on the oldest role-playing game around, Dungeons & Dragons. It features an <a href="https://www.cbr.com/ff-turn-based-combat-revamp-vs-real-time-action/#:%7E:text=Summary,for%20character%20development%20and%20customization.">out-of-style combat system</a> and a gobsmacking <a href="https://gamerant.com/baldurs-gate-3-cutscenes/">174 hours</a> of <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/22/18235914/anthem-cutscenes-low-quality-final-fantasy-cgi">narrative cutscenes</a>, which are akin to mini-film clips – and are generally considered passé because they interrupt gameplay.</p>
<p>Even more off-putting: There’s a steep learning curve, which harks back to the <a href="https://eightify.app/summary/gaming-and-entertainment/are-video-games-getting-easier">bygone days of the arcade</a>, when games were designed not to sustain engagement but to present a challenge – and extract as many quarters from players as possible.</p>
<p>Despite all of this, “Baldur’s Gate 3” captured more than <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-hype-shifted-release-date-avoid-starfield/">25% of all playtime</a> on the gaming distribution platform Steam during the first weekend of its release, with gamers logging an astonishing <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1086940/view/6199820457241938859">10 million hours</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young man with hair dyed white and gray grins as he poses with a dagger." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562216/original/file-20231128-24-po6f5j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cosplayer dressed as Asterion from ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ at New York Comic Con in October 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cosplayer-posing-as-asterion-from-baldurs-gate-3-as-star-news-photo/1735879642?adppopup=true">Roy Rochlin/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Narrative gets a much-needed win</h2>
<p>To understand why <a href="https://www.macalester.edu/english/facultystaff/jamesdawes/">teachers of game design like me</a> are so excited about “Baldur’s Gate 3,” it’s helpful to focus on a concept we use in game studies: namely, the continuum between <a href="https://intapi.sciendo.com/pdf/10.1515/ausfm-2015-0009">narratology and ludology</a>.</p>
<p>Narratology prioritizes the storytelling aspect of video games, whereas ludology – from the Latin “ludus,” or game – prioritizes gameplay and game mechanics. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fQtxKmgJC8">Tetris</a>” was pure gameplay, all geometry and timing, while the earlier, text-based adventure “<a href="https://www.thezorklibrary.com/whatiszork.php">Zork</a>” was pure interactive storytelling.</p>
<p>Most games involve both, but the narrative is almost always secondary. The thinking goes that you can have a good game without a good story, but you can’t have a good game today without good gameplay.</p>
<p>Moreover, the kind of story you can tell is limited by the kind of game you are designing. If you want to write a poignant little tale about somebody who really just needs a hug, you can’t do it with gameplay defined by hacking evildoers to death with a hatchet.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ToEllOW2r1Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A brief history of ‘Zork,’ a game that’s entirely centered on text and storytelling.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What distinguishes “Baldur’s Gate 3” from the vast majority of games is that it is, at its heart, a narrative game. Players can spend hours clicking through dialogue options to trigger chatty cutscenes that flesh out backstories and advance character plots. They can flirt with a fiery barbarian devil, confront the racial prejudice of an extraplanar visitor, or help the emo priestess Shadowheart process her childhood trauma. </p>
<p>One of its most dramatic and memorable moments – spoiler alert – is when players get to give a hug to somebody who desperately needs one, even though the gameplay is defined by hacking evildoers to death with a hatchet.</p>
<p>These moments – romancing, arguing, befriending, understanding – are the connective tissue that gives form and meaning to the otherwise skeletal mechanics of hacking and slashing. </p>
<p>To ludologists, however, these kinds of cinematics are a <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/05/30/storytelling-in-games-part-1-the-past-and-present">design failure</a>. They interrupt the game. They force players to stop playing and start watching. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/video-games-stories/524148/">They lazily mimic</a> what novels and films are better at doing.</p>
<p>Ludologists take the writing principle “Don’t tell, show!” and supercharge it for games to “Don’t show, play!” </p>
<h2>Leaving money on the table</h2>
<p>But the risks “Baldur’s Gate 3” took by leaning into the story go far beyond the doomspeak of ludologists. The gaming industry has shifted away from narrative in recent years as it has evolved from a niche entertainment into a force to <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/insights-and-perspectives.html">rival Hollywood</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2007/05/game-writing-1/">video game journalist Ben Kuchera explained</a>, “Writing doesn’t translate into dollars.”</p>
<p>Why is narrative seen as a bad bet for game studios? And why did Larian decide to make that bet anyway?</p>
<p>The first argument is that narrative has a low – even negative – return on investment. Larian invested heavily to develop multiple side plots and branching narrative pathways, showcasing <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/baldurs-gate-3-ai-no-place-voice-acting-performances-motion-capture/">276 mesmerizing voice actors</a> and devising a reported <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/if-you-thought-baldurs-gate-3-couldnt-get-any-bigger-apparently-it-has-17000-possible-endings/">17,000 variations</a> of the ending. </p>
<p>Because choosing one path means closing off another, most players will never experience the vast majority of this carefully wrought content. You can replay the game, but with standard runs <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/baldurs-gate-3-standard-playthrough-takes-75-to-100-hours-larian-says">taking an estimated 75 hours</a>, even hard-core gamers will still miss out. </p>
<p>And Larian will too. Larian does not make money on player retries. From a financial perspective, undiscovered content represents pure loss. </p>
<p>A narratologist, however, would argue that this kind of “loss” is precisely the point. In “Baldur’s Gate 3,” choices have costs. You can make decisions you will regret. And that is why you can also experience regret’s opposite: delight.</p>
<p>The second argument against narrative game design is structural. Narrative games leave money on the table because they are designed to end. “Baldur’s Gate 3” is structured as a three-act plot with an inciting incident, escalating action, and an appalling and beautiful climax. It leaves players satisfied. And that’s precisely the problem.</p>
<p>The games that make the most money today are designed to never end. Narratively shallow games, such as the first-person shooter “<a href="https://www.thegamer.com/fortnite-history-explained/">Fortnite</a>,” can keep a player hooked for years, inducing them to spend money on <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/epic-agrees-to-pay-245-million-ftc-fine-over-fortnite-microtransactions#">microtransactions</a> that far exceed the one-time purchase price of a game like “Baldur’s Gate 3.” They are desire treadmills, always holding off the promise of satisfaction with the lure of another thing to buy: next season’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonwosborne/2023/05/25/how-loot-boxes-in-childrens-video-games-encourage-gambling/?sh=246db61f5653">loot boxes</a>, next season’s <a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/battle-passes-make-me-never-want-to-play-a-multiplayer-game-ever-again/">battle pass rewards</a>, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gaming-skins-just-became-50-143352555.html">next season’s skins</a>. They transform play into shopping.</p>
<p>“Baldur’s Gate 3” has none of this.</p>
<p>“We believe in providing a complete and immersive gaming experience without the need for additional purchases,” <a href="https://www.pcgamesn.com/baldurs-gate-3/microtransactions">Larian wrote on the game’s website</a>.</p>
<p>Gamers and reviewers reacted to that announcement like swimmers taking their <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/08/12/the-main-lesson-frombaldurs-gate-3-should-be-people-hate-microtransactions/?sh=2025300b7a88">first snatch of air</a> after an overly aggressive dunking at a pool party.</p>
<h2>Beyond button-mashing</h2>
<p>The third argument against story-driven games is that they don’t appeal to a broad audience. The thinking goes that most gamers tend to be hyperactive button-mashers who lack the attention span for complex stories. And because developers can spend tens, even <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2014/09/24/why-video-games-are-so-expensive-to-develop">hundreds of millions</a> to bring a game to market, they cannot risk limiting their appeal, so they instead follow established models of success. </p>
<p>Even before the ascendance of the “Fornite” business model, that often meant shying away from story. <a href="https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/all-for-games-an-interview-with-warren-spector#close-modal">In a 2007 interview</a>, game designer and producer Warren Spector griped: “You don’t want to know how many projects I’ve been told to ‘just go make a shooter.’ I had one publisher tell me ‘you’re not allowed to say story anymore.’ It’s a constant battle to do something other than what everyone else is already doing.”</p>
<p>For now, the gaming industry has dubbed “Baldur’s Gate 3” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWdZhKFtxKg">a unicorn to admire rather than a model to follow</a>. Larian can do what others cannot because it is a privately owned company that doesn’t have to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-18/-baldur-s-gate-3-is-a-huge-hit-thanks-to-privately-owned-larian-studios">compromise artistic choices due to financial pressures</a>.</p>
<p>That may be true. But the game’s surprising success is a much-needed reminder that in the video game industry, making art and making money aren’t mutually exclusive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Dawes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For years, the biggest video game publishers have operated under the assumption that compelling stories and captivating characters don’t offer a good return on investment.James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2167852023-11-02T17:15:39Z2023-11-02T17:15:39ZNatalie Zemon Davis: three brilliant examples of her microhistory writing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556888/original/file-20231031-25-ii2ycn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C673%2C419&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Natalie Zemon Davis speaking in 2010.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Natalie_Zemon_Davis_(cropped).jpg">davis stromgren8/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/books/natalie-zemon-davis-dead.html">Natalie Zemon Davis</a>, who died on October 21 just short of her 95th birthday, was probably the best-known and most well-regarded of North American historians since the 1970s. She published her first book, <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=2559">Society and Culture in Early Modern France</a>, in 1975 and was writing the final pages of her last book in the weeks before she died.</p>
<p>Her early work on the popular culture and religious mentalities of artisans and labourers in the 16th century captured imaginations, and she led the early teaching of women’s history at the University of Toronto. But it is her distinctive methods and contributions to what came to be known as <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/microhistory">microhistory</a> that are best remembered.</p>
<p>Microhistory is a method and approach to historical writing that deploys close analysis of an incident, a life or a specific location as a way into writing about wider society. It used methods of close reading of sources as though through a microscope and reading against the grain, to reveal small details or clues that might challenge more established theories. </p>
<p>Microhistory brought a different scale and point of view to the writing of history, one based on closeness and familiarity as opposed to distance and strangeness. Davis practised microhistory using her great gift for storytelling; over her lifetime, it took her from a village in 16th-century France to 17th-century Québec and on to North Africa and Suriname. Her approach is best conveyed in these three books.</p>
<h2>1. <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674766914">The Return of Martin Guerre</a> (1984)</h2>
<p><a href="https://archive.org/details/returnofmartingu00davi">The Return of Martin Guerre</a> was Davis’s most famous work and the subject of the internationally renowned 1982 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AN8bS3bvlM">French film of the same name</a>, on which she collaborated. It told the 16th-century story of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Guerre">Arnaud du Tilh</a>, who impersonated a peasant named Martin Guerre from the Gascon village of Artigat. </p>
<p>Using the evidence and surrounding correspondence of the court case that arose, Davis drew on her deep knowledge of urban and rural labouring lives. Through the approaches of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/cultural-anthropology">cultural anthropology</a> and psychology, she centred her story on Guerre’s wife, Bertrande de Rols.</p>
<p>Abandoned by the real Guerre for eight years, de Rols accepted the “returned husband” (who was actually du Tilh) and lived with him for three years before discovery of the deception. Was she duped or willingly complicit? </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for The Return of Martin Guerre.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Davis did not just follow the evidence in the court testimonials of the judges of Toulouse, but probed behind them into the lives of the villagers of Artigat. She conveyed to her readers an empathetic understanding of the constraints on de Rols’s life, and the opportunities open to her to make her choices.</p>
<h2>2. <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674955219">Women on the Margins</a>: Three 17th-Century Lives (1990)</h2>
<p>Women on the Margins again followed the lives of individual women. This time, three urban women of different religions born in 17th-century Europe: <a href="https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/glueckel-of-hameln">Glikl von Hameln</a>, a German-Jewish merchant woman in Hamburg; <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/marie-de-lincarnation">Marie de l'Incarnation</a>, a French Catholic missionary who made her life in New France (Québec); and <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/animals/maria-sibylla-merian-pioneering-artist-flora-and-fauna">Maria Sibylla Merian</a>, a German-Dutch Protestant artist-naturalist of flora and fauna who travelled to Suriname in the Caribbean. </p>
<p>This was not a microhistory based on an event, as in Martin Guerre, but one based on people who were marginalised due to their gender and – in the cases of Von Hameln and Merian – their religion. </p>
<p>The lives of these women took Davis outside Europe to the encounters of Maria de l’Incarnation with Amerindian women in New France, and of Merian with Caribbean and African enslaved women in Suriname. </p>
<p>Davis reconstructed the interactions of ordinary European women with people and places that existed far beyond their previous experiences. This led her to what became her preoccupation: connecting narratives of local and individual histories with the wider world.</p>
<h2>3. <a href="https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571234790-trickster-travels/">Trickster Travels: In Search of Leo Africanus</a> (2006)</h2>
<p>Trickster Travels showed Davis again interrogating and contextualising known sources and texts. But this time, she was reconstructing the life of al-Hasan al-Wazzan, otherwise known as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leo-Africanus">Leo Africanus</a> – a north African merchant, traveller, diplomat and author of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/history-and-description-of-africa/B613803A560E64B69E037D9C0AB203BA">The History and Description of Africa</a> (1550). </p>
<p>She wrote of his dilemmas, his ruses, his beliefs and his compromises. Drawing on and writing about translated Arabic texts, she recreated Africanus himself as a translation: an Arab African, a Muslim converted to Christianity, living in Rome, writing in Italian about Islamic culture and the geography of Africa.</p>
<p>With this intriguing story of an Islamic captive and scholar, Davis successfully placed her practice of microhistory on a global stage, just at the time many European historians were rethinking their subjects, and connecting their histories of Europe with those of the wider world.</p>
<p>Davis continued writing this global microhistory in her unfinished but almost complete book, <a href="https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/12708/items/1.0102732">Braided Histories</a>. It explores the lives of plantation owners and enslaved peoples on one plantation in 18th-century Suriname – the Dutch colony in South America. </p>
<p>The author of several books, articles and book chapters, Davis was also a generous scholar who warmly engaged students and established writers in stimulating, probing conversation across many fields.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maxine Berg receives funding from The Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>Davis practised microhistory – analysing an incident, life or location as a way into writing about wider societyMaxine Berg, Professor of History, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131032023-09-28T14:16:10Z2023-09-28T14:16:10ZAkan folklore contains ancient wisdom that could benefit Ghana’s western-style education system<p>Philosophies of education serve as frameworks for producing lifelong learners and a knowledgeable and skilled human workforce who develop their societies. Ghana’s education system currently favours a western educational philosophy, relegating its indigenous philosophies to the back burner.</p>
<p>I am an <a href="https://www.ug.edu.gh/distance/staff/dr-samuel-amponsah">academic</a> in the field of curriculum studies. In a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11159-023-09993-x">recent paper</a>, I argue that education in Ghana needs to incorporate more elements based on an authentic Ghanaian framework. Based on the view that education, culture and development should be connected, I highlight the educational strengths of African folklore.</p>
<p>I conclude that aspects of Akan folklore, including its stories and proverbs, its kinship rights and rules, its moral codes, its corporate and humanistic perspective, complement the country’s current westernised education.</p>
<p>It is in this spirit that education lecturer <a href="https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Colleges/Education/Schools,-departments,-centres-&-instututes/School-of-Educational-Studies/Department-of-Adult-Basic-Education/Staff-members/Prof-KP-Quan%E2%80%93Baffour">Kofi Poku Quan-Baffour</a> has <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/10500/14348">referred to</a> the Akan proverb <em>Tete wobi ka, tete wobi kyere</em>. It means “heritage has lots to say, heritage has lots to teach”. Folklore holds benefits. </p>
<h2>The case for Akan folklore</h2>
<p>Ghana has about <a href="https://cdn.unrisd.org/assets/library/papers/pdf-files/asante-ssmall.pdf">92 ethnic groups</a>. The largest of these is the Akan. They can be found in eight of the <a href="https://mfa.gov.gh/index.php/about-ghana/regions/">16 regions</a> of the country and in parts of <a href="https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Akan-People.pdf">Côte d'Ivoire</a> and <a href="https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Akan-People.pdf">Togo</a>. The influence of the Akan in Ghana and west Africa is not just by virtue of their numerical strength but also due to their strong culture and the spirit that binds them. They have been able to maintain their culture throughout the blows of colonial history.</p>
<p>I argue that Akan folklore can be integrated into the school curricula to teach social skills and emotional intelligence. After all, education seeks to provide learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will make them functional and responsible members of their communities. </p>
<p>This tool may also benefit learners in colleges of education and universities offering Ghanaian languages and related courses. The crucial question here is: where is the place of indigenous pedagogy as a tool in nursing and agricultural training colleges, technical universities and the like? </p>
<p>Without indigenous components in their course curricula, students may graduate from such institutions as professionals who have lost their culture. They will not pass on indigenous values in their own teaching practice. </p>
<h2>Not just proverbs and stories</h2>
<p>Researchers such as <a href="https://www.ug.edu.gh/linguistics/staff/diabah">Grace Diabah</a> and <a href="https://www.ug.edu.gh/vc/about">Nana Appiah Amfo</a> have established the power of folklore types like proverbs to <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/gjl/article/view/181293">deal with</a> important topics like gender. Unfortunately, the focus of education has leaned heavily towards <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-colonial-past-and-assessment-use-means-education-prioritises-passing-exams-over-what-students-actually-learn-this-must-change-211957">examination performance</a> and readying learners for the job market. There is no recourse to the rich culture of the people. The absence of indigenous components in course curricula results in a graduate population without any appreciation for cultural identity. </p>
<p>In their study on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09751122.2015.11890253">integrating indigenous knowledge in the teaching of intermediate mathematics</a>, for example, James Owusu-Mensah and Kofi Poku Quan-Baffour argue that Akan indigenous knowledge systems such as storytelling and games could make subjects easier for learners to relate to and comprehend.</p>
<p>Furthermore, short Akan sayings add spice to the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369549251_Akan_folklore_as_a_philosophical_framework_for_education_in_Ghana">debate</a> that African philosophies can contribute to sustainable quality education for development. Examples such as <em>Kwan nkyɛn ade yɛfɛ, wᴐde sika na ɛyɛ</em>, which roughly translates to “money is needed for everything” and <em>wᴐnsom ԑne nipa</em> (success accrues from collective efforts) undoubtedly take most Ghanaians back to their roots to learn hard, work diligently and live cooperatively.</p>
<p>The urgent need to preserve the environment and its biodiversity also resonates in traditional taboos. These establish rules on days not to farm, hunt or go fishing. This is also done to keep certain flora and fauna sacred and protected. </p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>My research revealed that there is a need to develop and use an alternative indigenous philosophical framework, drawing on Akan folklore. There is a need to display a sense of commonalities, affirm culture, tradition and value systems, and foster comprehension of the local consciousness in a bid to resolve the challenges people are facing. </p>
<p>In a nutshell, while western philosophies open students up to global understandings and perspectives, Akan folklore grounds them in their own culture. Quality education of the kind proposed in this article will produce students and graduates who are beneficial to their societies while understanding, appreciating, cooperating and contributing to global issues and development.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213103/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel Amponsah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Incorporating Akan folklore in the curriculum will promote quality and lifelong education in Ghana.Samuel Amponsah, Associate Professor, Open Distance Learning, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2103992023-09-20T13:20:31Z2023-09-20T13:20:31ZFive golden rules for effective science communication – perspectives from a documentary maker<p>Over the past three years, people from all walks of life have learned a great deal about different branches of science. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced many of us to information about virology and vaccine production. Environmental disasters in every part of the world have brought concepts from meteorology and climatology to daily news reports.</p>
<p>In general, <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2022-07/Global%20trustworthiness%202022%20Report.pdf">people trust scientists</a> more than they do most other professions. But this isn’t the case universally. Trust in science <a href="https://wellcome.org/reports/wellcome-global-monitor-covid-19/2020">dropped in sub-Saharan Africa after the pandemic.</a> In other parts of the world, in particular the US, public opinion about science is driven by political ideology and is becoming <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10035814/">increasingly polarised</a>. </p>
<p>As multi award-winning Australian filmmaker <a href="https://www.vitamaniathemovie.com/sonya-pemberton/">Sonya Pemberton</a> put it during a plenary address at the <a href="https://pcst2023.nl/">2023 Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference</a>: “We have access to so much information, and yet simultaneously some areas of science are facing walls of doubt, disbelief and distrust.” </p>
<p>So what’s the solution? Communication, Pemberton told attendees at the conference, held in April in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>As science communicators we can help shape the conversations, the attitudes, and perhaps even help shape bits of our future.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Her assertion, and her approach to making films, is rooted in evidence from science communication research. To build trust with an audience, scientists must demonstrate that they are competent experts. But they must also come across as <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1317505111">warm, caring and human</a>.</p>
<p>Pemberton – and we, a group of South African science communication academics who attended the conference – are part of a global movement in our discipline towards using <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1312080110">the science of science communication</a>. In essence, this is about building our science engagement efforts on evidence, rather than on a gut feeling.</p>
<p>Pemberton has one guiding principle: know your <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-91628-2_3">audience</a>. She also has five golden rules for effective science communication:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>acknowledge uncertainty</p></li>
<li><p>avoid polarising messages</p></li>
<li><p>check for biases</p></li>
<li><p>incite curiosity</p></li>
<li><p>embrace complexity. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Here’s why she swears by these rules – and why anyone looking to communicate effectively about science with various audiences should consider doing the same.</p>
<h2>Evidence-based science filmmaking</h2>
<p>Some of the themes of Pemberton’s films, produced by Genepool Productions, include cancer-causing infections, concerns and misconceptions around vaccinations and climate change, investigating vitamins and dietary supplements, and a real-time journey through Australia’s pandemic experience.</p>
<p>These topics, she said during her conference address, are “surrounded by a plethora of facts, figures, claims and counterclaims, resulting in increased polarisation among people”. </p>
<p>Early in her career, Pemberton realised a mighty challenge of science communication: often, science is communicated in a way that speaks primarily to other people who enjoy, appreciate or seek out science.</p>
<p>That’s where her five rules come in. They are the way, she believes, to engage those who dislike, distrust or dismiss science. Her approach draws on the Yale University-based Cultural Cognition project, which involves an interdisciplinary team of scholars <a href="http://culturalcognition.squarespace.com/kahan/">using what they call</a> “empirical methods to examine the impact of group values on perceptions of risk and related facts”. </p>
<p><strong>1. Acknowledge uncertainty</strong></p>
<p>Sometimes scientists are wrong. It is not that they are lying or covering things up. They are simply sharing the best information they have at the time. But things change and new knowledge is added bit by bit. Therefore, it is crucial to acknowledge the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0093650214534967">uncertainty</a> and risk that science may hold. </p>
<p>Being open and transparent about uncertainty <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/commun-2019-0123/html">increases audience trust</a> in science. An example of this is a story about a valid vaccine injury which Pemberton included in a 2013 documentary called <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3153478/">Jabbed – Love, Fear and Vaccines</a>.</p>
<p><strong>2. Avoid polarising messages</strong></p>
<p>There are as many pro-vaccine films as there anti-vaccine films. People generally watch the films that match their views. Many people are neither “pro” nor “anti” but rather <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1715163519878745">somewhere in the middle</a>, along a wide spectrum of views. They may have <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.7196/SAMJ.2022.v112i2.16301">valid reasons for being hesitant or uncertain</a> about getting a vaccine, such as fear of side-effects and not trusting the government to deliver vaccines safely.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unvaccinated-south-africans-told-us-why-they-werent-interested-in-having-covid-jabs-183742">Unvaccinated South Africans told us why they weren't interested in having COVID jabs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Science communicators should never signal that they are taking sides in a debate. This will only strengthen the “us versus them” rhetoric that leads to polarisation and confrontation. Instead, it works well to deliberately (and respectfully) include different views, and to look for <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_science_of_what_makes_people_care">shared values</a> and common ground. </p>
<p><strong>3. Check for biases – especially your own</strong></p>
<p>“I am deeply interested in exploring the intersections between ‘what we know’ and ‘what we believe’,” Pemberton explained. This is linked to her third rule: science communicators should <a href="https://questproject.eu/how-to-communicate-about-science-more-effectively-we-need-to-recognise-we-address-people-with-their-own-opinions-and-cognitive-biases/">confront their own biases and belief systems</a>. </p>
<p>Everyone, including scientists and science communicators, interprets new information through the lens of their own identities and lived experiences. So, when people don’t agree with us, it does not mean that they are ignorant or ill-informed. They simply interpret the information through the lens of their own identities. If you ridicule someone who has a different point of view, it becomes impossible to have a meaningful conversation.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tM0iHnIW978?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An interview with Sonya Pemberton by SWIPE SciComm.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>4. Incite curiosity with stories and emotions</strong></p>
<p>The more facts and data that science communicators throw at people – especially information that challenges their world views – the more likely they will back into their bunkers and eventually shut down. Instead of burdening an audience with cold, hard facts, expert communicators learn how to use the power of science <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1320645111">storytelling</a> to captivate attention, and <a href="https://jcom.sissa.it/article/pubid/JCOM_1805_2019_E/">to evoke wonder and curiosity</a>. </p>
<p>In Pemberton’s film <a href="https://www.thecarbonmovie.com/">Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography (2022)</a>, Sarah Snook (who acted in the TV series Succession) is the voice of carbon. She narrates a first-person account of the story of carbon, starting with her birth during a star explosion and following her adventures in the universe. This documentary includes animations and an orchestral score to produce a fresh and compelling perspective on this life-giving element.</p>
<p><strong>5. Embrace complexity</strong></p>
<p>Science communicators should <a href="https://nautil.us/why-its-good-to-be-wrong-234374/">acknowledge the complexity</a> of communicating science, and that it can be a challenging and contested space. Pemberton says that fear of scientific topics is good; it is what science communicators do with that fear that matters. </p>
<p>Once communicators understand why people feel anxious, fearful, angry or detached, those insights can be used to make messages that are relevant to them.</p>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by Marnell Kirsten, a former master’s student at CREST, Stellenbosch University who joins Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, as a PhD student on 1 October 2023; and Lili Rademan and Lali van Zuydam, PhD students at CREST. The South African Research Chair in Science Communication at Stellenbosch University provided funding support for the three to attend the conference in Rotterdam. We thank Professor Mehita Iqani for this support.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Joubert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To build trust with an audience, scientists must demonstrate that they are competent experts. But they must also come across as warm, caring and human.Marina Joubert, Science Communication Researcher, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122422023-08-31T12:23:04Z2023-08-31T12:23:04ZMichael Oher, Mike Tyson and the question of whether you own your life story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545972/original/file-20230901-21-zovk4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C26%2C2977%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Michael Oher and his family celebrate his selection by the Baltimore Ravens at the 2009 NFL Draft. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/baltimore-ravens-draft-pick-michael-oher-poses-for-a-news-photo/86217296?adppopup=true">Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What if you overcame a serious illness to go on to win an Olympic medal? Could a writer or filmmaker decide to tell your inspiring story without consulting you? Or do you “own” that story and control how it gets retold?</p>
<p>Michael Oher, the former NFL player portrayed in the 2009 blockbuster “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878804/">The Blind Side</a>,” has sued Michael and Anne Leigh Tuohy, the suburban couple who took him into their home as a disadvantaged youth.</p>
<p>In his official complaint, Oher claims that through forgery, trickery or sheer incompetence, the Tuohys enabled 20th Century Fox to acquire the exclusive rights to his life story. </p>
<p>The Tuohys, Oher continues, received millions of dollars for a “story that would not have existed without him,” while he claims that he received nothing.</p>
<p>Just a year earlier, former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/media/mike-tyson-hulu-series/index.html">similarly incensed</a> when he learned that Hulu had created <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14181914/">a miniseries dramatizing his career</a> without seeking his permission. </p>
<p>“They stole my life story and didn’t pay me,” Tyson charged <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg7JRAeLY9B/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=8c5ce5bc-6faf-4c49-b355-4b25d72418b8">in an Instagram post</a>.</p>
<p>Oher and Tyson – not to mention countless influencers and wannabe celebs – share the conviction that they own, and can monetize, their life stories. And given regular <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/kurt-warner-movie-20th-century-fox-acquires-rights-former-qbs-life-story-plans-film-adaptation">news stories about studios buying</a> “life story rights,” it’s not surprising to see why. </p>
<p>As law professors, we’ve studied this issue; <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4480628">our research shows</a> that there is no recognized property right under U.S. law – or the laws of any other country of which we are aware – to the facts and events that occur during someone’s life.</p>
<p>So why are Oher, Tyson and others complaining? And why do publishers and studios routinely pay large sums to acquire rights that don’t exist?</p>
<h2>No monopoly on the truth</h2>
<p>In most states, the commercial use of an individual’s name, image and likeness is protected by the so-called “<a href="https://rightofpublicityroadmap.com/">right of publicity</a>.” But that right generally applies to merchandise, apparel and product endorsements, not facts and actual events. So you can’t sell a T-shirt with Mike Tyson’s face on it without his permission, but writing a book about his rise to fame is fair game.</p>
<p>In the U.S., the freedom to describe historical events is rooted in <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt1-7-1/ALDE_00013537/">the free speech clause</a> of the First Amendment, and it’s a fundamental principle that no one – whether it’s a news agency, political party or celebrity – holds a monopoly on the truth.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/19/business/media/gawker-hulk-hogan-verdict.html">The law doesn’t sanction the invasion of privacy</a>, so an investigative journalist who uncovers some unsavory detail of your past can’t publish it unless there is a legitimate public interest in doing so. Nor does it condone the dissemination of false information, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/18/business/fox-news-dominion-trial-settlement">which can lead to defamation lawsuits</a>. </p>
<p>The First Amendment, however, does allow authors and film producers to truthfully depict factual events that they have legitimately learned about. They are not required to receive authorization from or pay the people involved.</p>
<h2>The origin of life story ‘rights’</h2>
<p>Film producers, however, are accustomed to paying for the right to repackage or use existing content. </p>
<p>Copyright licenses are required to commission a script based on a book, to depict a comic book character in a film and to include a hit song on a movie soundtrack. Even showing an architecturally distinctive building often requires the consent of a copyright owner, which is why the video game “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/spider-man-miles-morales-doesnt-have-the-chrysler-building-due-to-copyright-issues">had to remove the Chrysler Building</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Manhattan skyline with art deco skyscraper in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545622/original/file-20230830-24-kgtp41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545622/original/file-20230830-24-kgtp41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545622/original/file-20230830-24-kgtp41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545622/original/file-20230830-24-kgtp41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545622/original/file-20230830-24-kgtp41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545622/original/file-20230830-24-kgtp41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545622/original/file-20230830-24-kgtp41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Studios hoping to include a shot of the Chrysler Building in their films might have to pony up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-chrysler-building-stands-in-midtown-manhattan-january-9-news-photo/1079651514?adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Along with these other rights and permissions, Hollywood studios have paid individuals for their life stories for at least a century. </p>
<p>Yet, unlike copyright clearances, life story deals do not involve the acquisition of known intellectual property rights. Life story “rights” are not rights at all. Instead, they bundle together a set of contractual commitments: the subject’s agreement to cooperate with the studio, not to work on a similar project, and to release the studio from claims of defamation and invasion of privacy. </p>
<p>By packaging these commitments under the umbrella of “life story rights,” studios can signal to the market that they have acquired a particularly juicy story. </p>
<p>For example, Netflix’s quick deal with convicted fraudster <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-scammers-like-anna-delvey-and-the-tinder-swindler-exploit-a-core-feature-of-human-nature-177289">Anna Sorokin</a>, the subject of the popular streaming series “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740976/">Inventing Anna</a>,” seems to have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56113478">deterred competing adaptations</a> of Sorokin’s story.</p>
<p>What’s more, the acquisition of life story rights has become so common that it is viewed, in many cases, as a de facto requirement for film financing and insurance coverage and thus part of the standard clearance procedure for many projects.</p>
<h2>Exceptions don’t make the rule</h2>
<p>As always with the law, though, there are exceptions. </p>
<p>Notably, the producers of the 2010 film “The Social Network” <a href="https://perma.cc/SN4H-UXAP">did not obtain the permission</a> of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg before dramatizing the origin story of his company. In moving forward with the project, they risked a defamation or publicity suit by Zuckerberg and others depicted in the film. But their gamble paid off: Zuckerberg, while <a href="https://perma.cc/SN4H-UXAP">critical of his depiction</a>, didn’t sue.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, other subjects who have been depicted in dramatic features without their authorization have sued to recover a share of the profits. </p>
<p>Silver screen legend Olivia de Havilland, for example, <a href="https://casetext.com/case/de-havilland-v-fx-networks-llc-1">sued FX Studios</a> for briefly depicting her in a miniseries about Hollywood rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. She won at trial, though an appeals court reversed her victory, citing the producers’ First Amendment rights. </p>
<p>Lawsuits can even be brought when the characters’ names and story details have been changed. U.S. Army Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver, the bomb-defusing expert who inspired the Oscar-winning film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520hurt%2520locker">The Hurt Locker</a>,” <a href="https://casetext.com/case/sarver-v-chartier">sued the film’s producers</a> for violating his right of publicity. He lost.</p>
<p>Lawsuits like these are not the norm. But many producers hope to get ahead of a flimsy lawsuit and bad publicity by acquiring nonexistent rights.</p>
<h2>History is in the public domain</h2>
<p>Ultimately, there is nothing wrong – and much that is right – with paying individuals to cooperate with the production of features about themselves. Doing so can convey respect toward the subject and make the production go more smoothly. </p>
<p>But the fact that life story acquisitions have entered the popular consciousness has spurred the widespread belief that any portrayal of a factual series of events entitles those depicted to a lucrative payday. This expectation increases production costs and the risk of litigation, thereby deterring otherwise worthwhile projects and depriving the public of meaningful content that is based on true stories.</p>
<p>What could be done about this situation?</p>
<p>One idea <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4480628">that we’ve written about</a> would prevent right of publicity laws – the basis for many life story lawsuits – from being used against works that convey ideas and tell a story, such as books, films and TV shows.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most important thing that can be done, though, is educating people that they don’t have a right to cash in on every description of the events of their lives. </p>
<p>Collective history, in our view, belongs in the public domain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Publishers and studios routinely pay large sums to acquire ‘life story rights.’ Two law scholars explain why the phrase is misleading.Jorge L. Contreras, James T. Jensen Endowed Professor for Transactional Law and Director, Program on Intellectual Property and Technology Law, University of UtahDave Fagundes, Baker Botts LLP Professor of Law and Research Dean, University of Houston Law CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117132023-08-23T12:22:14Z2023-08-23T12:22:14ZTrump’s classified-documents indictment does more than allege crimes − it tells a compelling story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543983/original/file-20230822-8562-thzo0f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C0%2C8395%2C5613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The indictment of Donald Trump and an aide was 'laced with rhetorical and narrative techniques.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-pages-are-viewed-from-the-news-photo/1258567549?adppopup=true">Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When special counsel Jack Smith announced <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-the-full-trump-indictment-on-mishandling-of-classified-documents">the charges he was bringing against former President Donald Trump</a> for retaining government documents, he did something unusual: He invited the public to <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?528657-1/special-counsel-jack-smith-statement-indictment-donald-trump">read the formal legal document, known as an indictment, detailing the allegations</a>. </p>
<p>And many did – concluding not only that the indictment was <a href="https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2023/06/13/trump-documents-indictment-florida-jane-rosenzweig">well-written</a> but <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/the-trump-indictment-speaks-for-itself">engaging</a>.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://lawweb.colorado.edu/profiles/profile.jsp?id=274">study the ethics</a> of using narrative and rhetoric in legal persuasion. I am also a lawyer. I know that nothing required Smith and his team at the Department of Justice to write this way. Although legal scholars have <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/2177/">called for a more stringent standard</a>, <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_7">the law requires only</a> that a federal indictment include a “plain, concise, and definite” outline of the “essential facts” of the case – just enough to help the defense attorney understand what the client faces. Prosecutors could have cleared this hurdle by writing a technocratic document intelligible only to other criminal law insiders.</p>
<p>Instead, they wrote what in legal circles is called a “speaking” indictment. This indictment told a story. And not just any story – one laced with rhetorical and narrative techniques to not just help the public understand the case, but more, to persuade readers that the prosecution is justified.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pRG7GyERubQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘I invite everyone to read it in full,’ said special counsel Jack Smith of the indictment against Trump.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Show, don’t tell</h2>
<p>Here are some examples of how the indictment tells a story aimed at persuading readers:</p>
<p><strong>The storage boxes:</strong> Trump’s now famous boxes are introduced by, first, the use of selective detail to paint a sentimental scrapbooking scene: We imagine Trump gathering what are described as “newspapers, press clippings, letters, notes, cards, photographs, official documents, and other materials in cardboard boxes.” Yet among this image of keepsakes, notes the next paragraph, were documents about “defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; [and] potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack.”</p>
<p><strong>Mar-a-Lago:</strong> These boxes didn’t remain at the White House; after Trump’s presidency ended, he took them to Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors could have just referred to Trump’s “Florida residence” or listed a street address. But doing so might not only be boring but also leave readers with their own stock sense of what a “residence” is. </p>
<p>So they brought Mar-a-Lago to life, describing it as an “active social club” with “more than 25 guest rooms, two ballrooms, a spa, [and] a gift store” that, in the relevant period, hosted “150 social events, including weddings, movie premieres, and fundraisers that together drew tens of thousands of guests.” It was into this Gatsbyesque scene that Trump brought his boxes.</p>
<p>True, Mar-a-Lago does have a “storage room” where many boxes were put. But here, too, indictment authors counter readers’ image of what that might mean. This isn’t a room in a quiet basement corner, but rather one in a hallway with “multiple outside entrances,” near high-traffic areas like a “liquor supply closet” and “linen room.” In a moment of almost Shakespearean comedy, the indictment shows Trump employees in this setting chancing upon confidential documents spilled out on the floor. One texts, “I opened the door and found this…” to which the other replies, “Oh no oh no.”</p>
<p><strong>The photos</strong>: Readers are not merely told that Trump stored highly sensitive intelligence materials at less-than-secure locations throughout Mar-a-Lago, they are shown <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/photos-from-trump-indictment-show-boxes-of-classified-documents-stored-in-mar-a-lago-shower-ballroom">photos of boxes</a> on a stage and in a bathroom. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Boxes piled on a stage in a fancy room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543762/original/file-20230821-23-4fy72z.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Boxes at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., in a photo included by the Justice Department in its indictment of Trump for hoarding government documents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-handout-photo-provided-by-the-u-s-department-of-news-photo/1258567092">U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images</a></span>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Boxes stacked in a bathroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543764/original/file-20230821-19-ngzw9c.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In this handout photo provided by the Justice Department, stacks of boxes are stored in a bathroom and shower at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-handout-photo-provided-by-the-u-s-department-of-news-photo/1258566797">Photo by U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>These images not only keep readers engaged by breaking up the text but also reinforce the Department of Justice’s written allegations. And because viewers <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-12251-001">assume images to be true without reflection</a>, including this photographic evidence as visual allegations is especially effective. </p>
<p><strong>Plot inferences</strong>: As with any nonfiction story, the indictment has gaps. Readers know that phone calls occurred but not what was said. Readers know that actions took place one after another but not that the first caused the second. But through careful arrangement, the authors prime readers to fill in these gaps. </p>
<p>Using Trump’s own words, the indictment encourages readers to imagine him, to hear him, thinking out loud: “I don’t want anybody looking through my boxes … wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here? … isn’t it better if there are no documents?” Then, starting a page later, readers twice see Trump speak to an employee for less than half a minute. They don’t know what’s said, but in both cases the next sentence after each phone call shows that employee moving boxes in, and then out, of the storage room. </p>
<p>Readers could infer what’s going on: Trump ordered that the boxes be moved and did so to conceal their contents. Without even realizing it, readers complete the story, giving content to the phone calls and meaning to the actions that followed them.</p>
<p>Throughout the indictment, writing techniques such as these <a href="https://www.alwd.org/index.php?option=com_attachments&task=download&id=290">transport readers through a story portal</a> so that they see Mar-a-Lago, hear Trump barking orders and feel his motivations; the case’s disparate facts cohere into a vivid, engaging story.</p>
<h2>‘It’s only one side’</h2>
<p>A bare-bones, legalistic indictment would do none of these things. Nonexpert readers would gloss over it. The public would be left with just Trump’s claims about what the case was about. In contrast, Smith’s approach helps the public understand this historic prosecution.</p>
<p>So maybe more prosecutors should write this way. </p>
<p>But not every defendant has Trump’s power or influence. Not every defendant can broadcast a story for an indictment to then counter. Instead, an indictment full of persuasive storytelling techniques might frame the public’s first, and sometimes only, impressions. </p>
<p>Unlike in a Supreme Court case, where both sides get to share their story of what happened and should happen next, at the indictment stage the prosecutor is the only one speaking. If such a case settles before trial through a plea agreement, or if after trial the case isn’t appealed, then the defendant may never have a chance to present a public, written story.</p>
<p>Prosecutors wield incredible power. This includes the power to persuade through storytelling. While admiring the writing of Smith and his team here, readers should also be aware: It’s only one side of the story.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek H. Kiernan-Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Department of Justice prosecutors could have composed a technocratic document intelligible only to other criminal law insiders when indicting Donald Trump in the documents case. They did much more.Derek H. Kiernan-Johnson, Teaching Professor of Law, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2103262023-08-09T20:35:27Z2023-08-09T20:35:27ZTelling stories of our climate futures is essential to thinking through the net-zero choices of today<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/telling-stories-of-our-climate-futures-is-essential-to-thinking-through-the-net-zero-choices-of-today" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>It has been a year of devastating climate impacts with <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2219825120">humanity around the world experiencing a bitter taste</a> of what climate scientists have been warning about for years. The dire prospect is that we are on the precipice of a “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/us/voices/air-quality-index-nyc-fires-smoke-b2354703.html">new abnormal</a>.” </p>
<p>Observers of climate change, and its victims, are desperate for action while the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-action-on-climate-change-gets-stuck-and-what-to-do-about-it-128287">manifold political and economic obstacles remain tough to overcome</a>. However, what is even more evident is that we lack a clear vision of our future to guide our pursuit of climate action. </p>
<p>To be clear, it is not for lack of <em>goals</em>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050">Net Zero by 2050</a>. <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/">1.5 C above pre-industrial levels</a>. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/climate-plan-overview/emissions-reduction-2030.html">A 40 per cent reduction of 2005 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030</a>. These are all admirable goals, but they are not visions that can help people to see, feel and understand where we are going. </p>
<p>Canadians and people around the world need stories that can help make those visions real. Stories that can help build the national conversation we need about the massive transformations on the horizon.</p>
<h2>The power of story</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/energy-research-and-social-science/vol/31/suppl/C">Social science</a> and <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520967557">humanities</a> research is exploring the role of stories and imagination in pursuing climate action and increasingly concluding that they are crucial. </p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.249">one study found</a>: “Transformations require the capacity to collectively envision and meaningfully debate realistic and desirable futures. Without such a collective imagination capacity and active deliberation processes, societies lack both the motivation for change and guidance for decision-making in a certain direction of change.”</p>
<p>Creative writers have been responding to this <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo22265507.html">need for vision</a> through <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/topics/climate-fiction-29777">stories</a>. The climate fiction genre, both <a href="https://theconversation.com/imagining-both-utopian-and-dystopian-climate-futures-is-crucial-which-is-why-cli-fi-is-so-important-123029">utopian and dystopian</a> is now too broad and diverse to briefly review with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/26/stories-to-save-the-world-the-new-wave-of-climate-fiction">novels</a>, <a href="https://climateimagination.asu.edu/everything-change/">short stories</a> and <a href="https://grist.org/fix/imagine-2200-climate-fiction-2022/">literary contests</a>. </p>
<p>Some works, such as Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel <em>Ministry for the Future</em>, have even found themselves in mainstream conversations — endorsed by prominent figures like Barack Obama — while climate change is also increasingly a motif in novels that <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/05/climate-change-fiction/629809/">are not necessarily about climate change</a>.</p>
<p>Scholars are <a href="https://climateimagination.asu.edu/research/">keenly aware of this trend</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.081">have been studying</a> its <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-017-2020-2">impacts and contributing stories themselves</a>. </p>
<p>A project at Lund University in Sweden developed a <a href="https://www.climatefutures.lu.se/carbon-ruins">Museum of Carbon Ruins</a>, projecting forward to a post-carbon future and envisioning how we will look back upon our world today, while Cree scholar Sandra Lamouche’s research explores how <a href="https://climateinstitute.ca/publications/power-acimowin-storytelling-climate-change-policy/">Indigenous storytelling can inform climate policy and action</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/storytelling-allows-elders-to-transfer-values-and-meaning-to-younger-generations-197766">Storytelling allows elders to transfer values and meaning to younger generations</a>
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<p>Stories matter for shaping how we think about the future and what we do in the present. They can make the future tangible and the process of getting from now to then visible. They can serve as warnings and signposts and can make the abstract concrete. As Alexandra Nikoleris, Johannes Stripple, and Paul Tenngart <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-017-2020-2">argue in a recent piece comparing climate fiction and scientific reports on climate futures</a>, “Through identification with the protagonists in literary fiction, climate futures become close and personal rather than distant and abstract.” </p>
<h2>The role of story in action</h2>
<p>At present, Canada has a <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-19.3/fulltext.html">legislated goal of achieving net zero by 2050</a>. <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/net-zero-emissions-2050.html">Policies are being made</a> and <a href="https://climateinstitute.ca/news/budget-2023-is-a-strong-gameplan-to-keep-canada-competitive/">billions are being spent and pledged</a>. This is a good thing. Canada desperately needs to move quickly in its pursuit of climate action. To help governments and Canadians consider what this means for them, there are <a href="https://climateinstitute.ca/reports/canadas-net-zero-future/">think tank reports</a>, an <a href="https://nzab2050.ca/">advisory body</a>, and many opinion pieces that fall along predictable partisan lines. </p>
<p>What is missing are stories. Stories of how we might get there. Stories of what might go wrong along the way. Stories of what net zero looks like. Stories of what might still need doing once we are there. Stories that help people to connect policy decisions and socio-technical changes to their lives now and as Canada moves through the transition to net zero.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://envirogovlab.ca/">Environmental Governance Lab</a> at the University of Toronto, we are contributing to filling this gap with the first volume of a speculative fiction magazine set in an imagined 2050 in a Canada that has achieved its net-zero goal, <em><a href="https://wedidit2050.ca/">We Did It!?</a></em>. Produced through a series of workshops with writers, social scientists and technical experts, the stories consider different aspects of how Canada got to net zero, what life looks like, and the work still left to be done to create a just and equitable low-carbon society. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-net-zero-to-halt-global-heating-aim-for-net-negative-195484">Forget net-zero: to halt global heating, aim for net-negative</a>
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<p>Through profiles and human interest stories, poetry, a movie review job ad and more, the stories in the magazine explore the tensions, obstacles and opportunities found in the pursuit of net zero. Some are stories of what goes wrong. Others explore what the good life in 2050 might look like. </p>
<p>Taken together they personalize the policies and technical shifts that are all too often remote and removed. They make concrete <a href="https://wedidit2050.ca/about">the social, political and economic dynamics</a> that are all too often abstract. The goal is to spark the imagination and conversation about what climate action can and will mean for Canadians. </p>
<h2>An ongoing discourse</h2>
<p>This is the first volume of what will hopefully be many. We plan to explore additional aspects of Canada’s net-zero journey and bring the process of future history storytelling to multiple audiences and story producers, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2022.2153329">secondary students interested in climate change</a>.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-students-can-use-storytelling-to-bring-the-dangers-of-climate-change-to-life-166693">How students can use storytelling to bring the dangers of climate change to life</a>
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<p>Stories are not just visions or flights of imagination. They can reflect our understandings, help us think through choices and see possibilities for action, contingencies and consequences. They add colour to technical analyses that are often lacking human stories, and frequently ignore the perspectives and understandings of people who live in the world of those policies and consequences. </p>
<p>They can <a href="https://wedidit2050.ca/pride-and-joy">shift our perspective</a> on <a href="https://wedidit2050.ca/travelogue-a-transportation-engineer-retraces-journey-to-chicago-50-years-later">what is possible</a>, provide a channel for hearing new voices and force us to reflect on our <a href="https://wedidit2050.ca/the-people-of-net-zero">hopes</a> or <a href="https://wedidit2050.ca/thirsty">fears</a>. If we are going to change the story of climate destruction and despair that we read everyday, we need more stories to help us understand and contemplate where we are going and how we get there.</p>
<p>After all, as Robinson reminds us, <a href="https://climateimagination.asu.edu/everything-change/">“We decide what to do based on the stories we tell ourselves.”</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Hoffmann receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Dean Family Symposium Fund.</span></em></p>The power of storytelling to help inform our decisions is underappreciated and of vital importance in envisioning a better future, and the steps to take to get us there.Matthew Hoffmann, Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of Environmental Governance Lab, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2058642023-05-18T15:02:56Z2023-05-18T15:02:56ZG7 summit in Hiroshima will force world leaders to confront the continuing nuclear threat<p>The <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/taiwan-lesson-war-ukraine-russia-china-europe-catch-up/">current crises</a> facing the world will be brought into sharp relief as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-pay-so-much-attention-to-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-45848">Hiroshima</a> – the first city to be annihilated by a nuclear bomb – plays host to the annual <a href="https://www.g7hiroshima.go.jp/en/summit/about/">G7 summit</a> of seven of the world’s wealthiest countries. Crucially, leaders will have a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face with survivors who still want to tell their stories to the world. </p>
<p>Forever branded on the collective consciousness, Hiroshima has become a symbol of resilience in the face of nuclear destruction. It is also home to a large population of <a href="https://education.unoda.org/presentations/hibakusha.html"><em>hibakusha</em></a>, as the survivors of the atomic bomb are known. There are estimated to be 118,935 <em>hibakusha</em> in Japan, with 39,590 <a href="https://thibaku.jp/toyu/2022/0453/0453_20220700_hibakusyasu.html">still living in Hiroshima</a>. </p>
<p>That the G7 meeting is being hosted in the city is down to Japanese prime minister <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-fumio-kishida-japans-new-prime-minister-168472">Fumio Kishida</a>. A son of Hiroshima, he has consistently emphasised his city’s significance rather than shy away from its historic horrors.</p>
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<p>As foreign minister he helped arrange the US presidential <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/26/politics/hiroshima-obama-visit-why-he-made-the-decision/index.html#:%7E:text=It%20is%20more%20forward%20looking,on%20his%20nuclear%20proliferation%20agenda.">visit to Hiroshima in 2016</a>, when Barack Obama <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-embraces-hiroshima-survivor-historic-visit/story?id=39427290">met with survivors</a>. After announcing this year’s G7 in Hiroshima, Kishida put forward his <a href="https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2022/09/future_without_nuclear_weapons.html">Hiroshima action plan</a>
which aims to strengthen and maintain the <a href="https://disarmament.unoda.org/">non-proliferation treaty of 1970</a>. Kishida also vowed to invite leaders of the world to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki so they might understand the devastating <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ican/pages/1043/attachments/original/1620205155/UnspeakableSuffering-web.pdf">consequences of using nuclear weapons</a>.</p>
<p>My work looks at how the stories of survivors can be reframed when viewed across the generations. Currently I am interviewing the third generation, the grandchildren of survivors, known as <em>hibaku sansei</em> in Japanese.</p>
<p>Survivors are deeply sensitive to the lack of openness that surrounds the history of the atomic bombings and are often reluctant to tell their stories. I believe it is important, through repeated interviewing, to seek to understand the reasons for their silence as well as their stories, drawing on their experiences and perspectives.</p>
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<h2>War and peace</h2>
<p>The G7 leaders are meeting at a time of escalating crises including the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-60525350">war in Ukraine</a>, tensions between <a href="https://theconversation.com/china-why-beijing-has-decided-this-is-the-year-to-unify-with-taiwan-199726">China and Taiwan</a> and an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/08/as-ai-weaponry-enters-the-arms-race-america-is-feeling-very-very-afraid">accelerating international arms race</a>. </p>
<p>After the second world war, Japan shied away from world politics, conscious of its <a href="https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/2037https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/2037">loss of empire and devastating defeat in 1945</a>, which ended with the bombing of <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=9778">Hiroshima and Nagasaki</a>. This shocking act not only killed hundreds of thousands of people, but also left untold numbers of survivors with conditions that have been <a href="https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/programs/roadmap_e/health_effects-en/geneefx-en/">passed on to their descendants</a>.</p>
<p>So it is refreshing to hear a Japanese leader making what seems like a bold and clear statement that the G7 summit should, in a time of war, be mainly focused on peace. </p>
<p>Seventy-eight years after the city was nearly bombed out of existence, Hiroshima now has beautiful parks, memorials and museums that exhibit the materials and <a href="https://presentations.thebestinheritage.com/2018/hiroshima-peace-memorial-museum">human stories about the bomb</a>. At the time it was predicted that <a href="https://ufi.ca.uky.edu/tree-stories/hiroshima-trees">nothing would grow</a> in the city for decades. </p>
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<img alt="An elderly Japanese woman in a wheelchair with her granddaughter, both smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527028/original/file-20230518-19-shja4i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527028/original/file-20230518-19-shja4i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527028/original/file-20230518-19-shja4i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527028/original/file-20230518-19-shja4i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527028/original/file-20230518-19-shja4i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527028/original/file-20230518-19-shja4i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527028/original/file-20230518-19-shja4i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Survivor Emiko Yamanaka, 89, was exposed to the atomic bomb 1.3km from Hiroshima’s ground zero on 6 August 1945.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kumi Itakura</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Understandably many survivors moved out or <a href="https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2018/8/9/hiroshima-nagasaki-2/">emigrated in the aftermath of the bomb</a>, but some, in extremely difficult circumstances, went on to carry out vital research into the effects of the atomic bombing on the <a href="https://presentations.thebestinheritage.com/2018/hiroshima-peace-memorial-museum">environment and geology of the city</a>. </p>
<p>Some created harrowing works of art that depicted <a href="https://marukigallery.jp/en/hiroshimapanels">personal torments</a>, while others patiently went about conducting medical research and treating survivors, resulting in the care homes and hospitals that now look after thousands of <a href="https://www.hiroshima.med.or.jp/ippnw/assets/docs/pdf/books/book-one-day-in-hiroshima.pdf">elderly <em>hibakusha</em></a>. </p>
<p>They wanted to help their fellow citizens but they also hoped their efforts would one day bring the world to the regenerated city. It has taken a Hiroshima man, Fumio Kishida, to become prime minister to fulfil their wish.</p>
<h2>Surviving to tell the tale</h2>
<p>The survivors who rebuilt the city and preserved the memories of the atomic bombings for future generations did so at huge personal cost. </p>
<p>Eighty-six-year-old Keiko Ogura, an <a href="https://hiphiroshima.org/">official storyteller in the city</a>, was just eight and at home in a suburb of Hiroshima when she was exposed to radiation, including from the deadly “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25402555/#:%7E:text=Abstract,short%20time%20after%20the%20bombings.">black rain</a>” that fell from the mushroom cloud on August 6 1945. She has relentlessly followed in the footsteps of her husband, Kaoru Ogura, one of the first directors of the <a href="https://hpmmuseum.jp/?lang=eng">Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum</a>, in bringing the <em>hibakusha</em> stories to the rest of the world. </p>
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/136089116" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>When I interviewed her for my study, she said that telling her own story of being exposed to the atomic bomb had caused her profound anxiety. <em>Hibakusha</em> grew up in a culture of discrimination and <a href="https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/resources/1160">censorship</a>. </p>
<p>In the aftermath of the bombing, both the Japanese military government and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/19/903826363/fallout-tells-the-story-of-the-journalist-who-exposed-the-hiroshima-cover-up">US occupation</a> sought to erase any mention of the seismic event, deny the lethal effects of the bomb on the human body and censor <a href="https://theconversation.com/they-died-with-stones-in-their-mouths-hiroshimas-last-survivors-tell-their-stories-107468">survivors’ stories</a>.</p>
<p>As Kyoko Gibson, 75, who lives in the UK but is from Hiroshima, said recently in a <a href="http://www.londonfreelance.org/fl/2303salo.html">talk</a>: “Can you imagine if you had to watch those you care for undergoing excruciating suffering?” The <em>hibakusha</em> were determined not to be seen simply as victims and submit to becoming the unfortunate collateral damage of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiGtQ8mu1qc">Japan’s surrender on 15 August 1945</a>.</p>
<p>Nobel prize-winning author <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/24/kenzaburo-oe-obituary">Kenzaburo Oe</a> (1935-2023) described in successive autobiographical works how his life was changed for the better by a conversation with a <em>hibakusha</em> he interviewed for his 1965 book <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/11/11/books/book-reviews/hiroshima-notes-kenzaburo-oe-hiroshima-u-s-occupation/">Hiroshima Notes</a>. He went on to champion their cause throughout his life, arguing that the chief lesson of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a lesson in <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2015/03/14/books/book-reviews/personal-matter/">self-reflection</a>. </p>
<p>If they listen to the harrowing stories of survivors in Hiroshima, the G7 leaders might find, emotionally and rationally, that signing up to Kishida’s action plan and an attendant agreement on the policy of <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/no-first-use-and-nuclear-weapons">no first use</a> is the only moral option.</p>
<p>This could help create much-needed space for proper debate across divides. Will they take this opportunity? At the moment the biggest threat to world peace is arguably still what philosopher Bertrand Russell and physicist Albert Einstein described in 1955 as the <a href="https://pugwash.org/1955/07/09/statement-manifesto/">threat to us all</a>: weapons of mass destruction. The stories of Hiroshima’s <em>hibakusha</em> should stand as an enduring warning against this grave human folly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205864/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Chappell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The heads of the some of the most powerful countries in the world would be wise to listen to the devastating testimony of Hiroshima survivors.Elizabeth Chappell, PhD Candidate, Department of English Language & Literature, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2030362023-04-24T19:22:58Z2023-04-24T19:22:58ZCancel culture: YouTube videos on ‘getting cancelled’ are now their own genre and have links to the past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522406/original/file-20230421-18-3j3jq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C178%2C4322%2C3034&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The aptly-titled video 'Canceling,' by cultural commentator and YouTuber ContraPoints, crystallized the cancellation video genre. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">(Wikipedia)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/cancel-culture--youtube-videos-on--getting-cancelled--are-now-their-own-genre-and-have-links-to-the-past" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The <a href="https://umaine.edu/undiscoveredmaine/small-business/resources/marketing-for-small-business/social-media-tools/social-media-statistics-details/">explosion of</a> user-created content on platforms like YouTube, Twitch and TikTok has unsettled traditional notions of authorship.</p>
<p>We can consider relationships between authors and audiences, and their roles in the creative process, by examining how some YouTubers have addressed critiques of their public commentary after they have been “cancelled.”</p>
<p>Cancelling is a colloquial term applied to anything from discussion about an author with a critical tone to internet pile-ons or <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-media-misogyny-the-new-way-andrew-tate-brought-us-the-same-old-hate-191928">campaigns to deplatform individuals</a> after that person does something their audience perceives as wrong. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/20879720/what-is-cancel-culture-explained-history-debate">much debate</a> as to whether cancelling is a real phenomenon. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, videos where YouTubers address their own cancellation, answer their audiences’ questions about their public mistake and correct misunderstandings suggest <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935338.013.002">forms of authorship that predate the modern emphasis</a> on an individual creator.</p>
<p>Jessie Krahn, one of the authors of this story, has studied these “cancellation videos” as a unique sub-genre of YouTube apology videos.</p>
<h2>Direct response to audience desire</h2>
<p>In a 2019 article in <em>Vice</em>, Bettina Makalintal wrote that YouTubers’
“<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywykzb/how-youtubers-james-charles-jaclyn-hill-pewdiepie-turned-the-apology-video-into-a-genre">apologies — like lipsticks — have become just another product” and their own genre</a>. YouTube apology videos feature a YouTuber unequivocally taking responsibility for one accusation. </p>
<p>In YouTube cancellation videos, by contrast, creators take responsibility for some of the accusations, question the validity of others and address the dynamics of social media cancellation more broadly in relation to their own situation. These videos are created in direct response to audience desire. </p>
<p>YouTubers frame these videos as opportunities to be <a href="https://www.sociomix.com/diaries/entertainment/the-problems-with-cancel-culture-and-popular-youtubers/1627615253">frank and open</a> with their viewers, acknowledging their audiences’ criticisms as worthy of engagement. However, they also critique the audiences’ critiques. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uFvtCUzfyL4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">YouTube video ‘No More Lies’ from James Charles has had more than 50 million views.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Accepting, rejecting some criticisms</h2>
<p>One of the most famous examples of a cancellation video is <a href="https://medium.com/bolstered/youtube-beauty-gurus-an-explainer-232177009b7c">YouTube beauty guru</a> James Charles’s “<a href="https://youtu.be/uFvtCUzfyL4">No More Lies</a>,” when Charles surveys <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a27484210/james-charles-tati-westbrook-youtube-drama-timeline/">criticisms levied against him</a>. The video, which has had more than 50 million views since it was posted in 2019, was in response to a messy public fallout that began with allegations that he was inconsiderate to a friend and mentor. </p>
<p>In Charles’s cancellation video, he stands by everything he said in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Ukl4l_LM8">earlier apology video</a>, but the cancellation video also refutes public criticisms of his character. Commentators note some criticism directed at Charles <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/44555/1/james-charles-tati-westbrook-drama-homophobia">was homophobic</a>.</p>
<p>The aptly titled 2020 video “<a href="https://youtu.be/OjMPJVmXxV8">Canceling</a>,” by cultural commentator and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/contrapoints-political-philosophy-natalie-wynn-youtube/579532/">YouTuber ContraPoints</a>, crystallized the cancellation video genre. </p>
<p>In the video, Natalie Wynn, the personality behind ContraPoints, addresses the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/youtuber-contrapoints-attacked-after-including-controversial-buck-angel-video-1466757">controversy that erupted</a> after she included content that some viewers believed endorsed the view that transgender identity is only authentic if a person transitions through medical intervention. </p>
<p>Wynn examines a number of her controversial tweets. She dismisses many of the criticisms as taking her tweets out of context and suggests that some of the criticisms were transphobic. However, she also accepts when something she wrote was open to being misconstrued, admitting: “We’ll call this a bad tweet.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OjMPJVmXxV8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video from Contrapoints on ‘Canceling.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Moral discussions</h2>
<p>Cancellation videos reveal how social media authors create their content in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40550803">direct response</a> to audience commentary and expectation. For audience members, cancelling is a way to negotiate their love for authors with their own values. </p>
<p>When an author is “cancelled,” audiences try to understand how they can continue engaging with the author despite their <a href="https://mashable.com/article/james-charles-tati-westbrook-bye-sisters-youtube-drama">newfound knowledge</a> of the author’s perceived flaws.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/joe-rogan-is-at-it-again-cancel-culture-can-be-harsh-but-it-can-also-help-reduce-harm-176776">Joe Rogan is at it again: Cancel culture can be harsh, but it can also help reduce harm</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>When, in response, YouTubers reach out to their viewers through the format their audiences came to know them in, it is a way to be publicly forthcoming and engage viewers in moral discussions. Such videos also reinscribe the boundaries that restrict audiences to only knowing authors through their video content.</p>
<p>Cancellation videos are examples of the ways internet video is not merely driven by the identities of popular personalities on social media, but also by the audience’s responses to those personalities. </p>
<p>Dialogues between authors and audiences shape future content created by the YouTubers. </p>
<h2>Pre-modern authorship</h2>
<p>The mode of authorship seen in YouTube cancellation videos combines the intense interest in the <a href="https://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/romtextv2/files/2013/02/cc08_n01.pdf">author as a singular creator</a> that has long dominated popular conceptions of authorship with an older model of authorship that was popular in 17th-century England.</p>
<p>Before the <a href="https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/content/conjectures-original-composition-1759">belief in the original genius of the author</a> took root in Britain during the late 18th century, many anonymous pamphlets and books circulated that were crafted directly around readers’ desires and reading habits.</p>
<p>These included <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/secret-history-in-literature-16601820/1B0294ACC0E70BB5D3A56D15F2FD94CC">popular genres like the secret history, which purported to expose state secrets and political sexual intrigues, and “printed hoaxes” (both generating hoaxes and debunking them)</a>. </p>
<p>Such texts directly responded to their <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Reading-Fictions-1660-1740-Deception-in-English-Literary-and-Political/Loveman/p/book/9781138376229">readers’ desire for literature that invited public discussion and was socially oriented</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Patrons seen in a coffee house with long bench tables." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522172/original/file-20230420-22-tec37q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522172/original/file-20230420-22-tec37q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522172/original/file-20230420-22-tec37q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522172/original/file-20230420-22-tec37q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522172/original/file-20230420-22-tec37q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522172/original/file-20230420-22-tec37q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522172/original/file-20230420-22-tec37q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drawing of a London coffee house, circa 1690-1700.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Trustees of the British Museum)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>New access to information</h2>
<p>Authors wrote to engage with the political struggles of the time, and took advantage of <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300171228/the-social-life-of-coffee/">the new coffeehouses</a> to circulate their ideas and boost their texts’ popularity. </p>
<p>The number of coffeehouses <a href="https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/newspapers-gossip-and-coffee-house-culture">increased exponentially</a> in late 17th-century London. They were cheap places in which to conduct business and gain access to the latest newspapers and political gossip. </p>
<p>Coffeehouses’ bench-style seating made them egalitarian spaces for discussion, thus making them an integral part of the rise of democratic ideals in British society.</p>
<p>The rise in texts dependent upon social conversation to render them popular was directly linked to new public spaces. These spaces expanded access to news and knowledge for men <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09574049108578077">(and some women)</a> at all levels of British society. </p>
<h2>New public spaces, new texts</h2>
<p>Seventeenth-century readers had a new, more accessible forum for media consumption, and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/jearlmodcultstud.15.2.58?mag=the-woman-famous-for-not-sleeping-with-a-king">this influenced the texts being produced by authors at the time</a>. The same can be said for social media influencers today. </p>
<p>Examining social media creation within the complicated history of authorship spotlights how new ways of consuming media shift the relationship between author and audience. </p>
<p>It also suggests how authorial agency is never only about one person’s creative drive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Keating has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessie Krahn has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Manitoba Institute for the Humanities. </span></em></p>What do YouTuber influencer videos about being ‘cancelled’ share with 17th-century texts? Both were crafted directly in response to audiences in new social spaces.Erin Keating, Associate Professor, Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media, University of ManitobaJessie Krahn, Master's student, Department of English, Theatre, Film & Media, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1740562023-04-17T20:02:51Z2023-04-17T20:02:51ZFrom Trump to Winnie the Pooh: how we use diagnosis as a narrative tool to make sense of dysfunction and deviance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520361/original/file-20230411-16-rb7hr6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">diagnosis</span> </figcaption></figure><p>During these pandemic times, the importance of diagnosis is driven home forcefully. Being diagnosed with COVID makes sense of symptoms, determines what we should do about them, and shapes our collective responsibility to the community.</p>
<p>Diagnosing seems a pretty straightforward business. You have symptoms, the doctor examines or tests you, you get a name for what ails you. </p>
<p>But the reality is far more complex. Diagnoses are actually social agreements about what counts as disease. </p>
<p>Of course, there’s dysfunction of some kind at the start, but not all dysfunctions get diagnostic status, some <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2011.01443.x">diagnoses shift over time</a> from one category to another and different diagnoses will have different connotations. </p>
<p>Even a diagnosis as seemingly clear-cut as COVID is more than just a label stuck to a virus. You can have presumed COVID, historical COVID, alpha, delta or omicron. You can have long COVID.</p>
<p>The latter is diagnosed as COVID, even when the virus is long gone and it could in fact be something else: chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia. Long COVID may be a particularly visible form of post-viral fatigue. That would require yet another diagnosis.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-testing-led-to-new-techniques-of-disease-diagnosis-progress-mustnt-stop-now-201406">COVID testing led to new techniques of disease diagnosis: progress mustn’t stop now</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Diagnosis as storytelling</h2>
<p>Diagnosis is so important to understanding our lives and those around us that it’s often applied outside of the health setting.</p>
<p>“Doing diagnosis” has become a popular form of entertainment. TV shows such as House use diagnostic mysteries to underpin plots – less Whodunit and more Whatisit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Surgeons in the operating theatre" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520365/original/file-20230411-582-zudtyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520365/original/file-20230411-582-zudtyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520365/original/file-20230411-582-zudtyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520365/original/file-20230411-582-zudtyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520365/original/file-20230411-582-zudtyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520365/original/file-20230411-582-zudtyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520365/original/file-20230411-582-zudtyl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TV shows like House play on diagnostic mysteries to drive the plot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Does Donald Trump have a narcissistic personality? Was Joan of Arc schizophrenic? What was the cause of Richard III’s hunchback? And even, does Winnie the Pooh have obsessive compulsive disorder?</p>
<p>What is interesting in this fascination with Trump’s presumed narcissism, or even the psychic health of Jesus, is less whether these diagnoses are valid and explanatory, but more how diagnostic frameworks have become dominant ways of telling stories.</p>
<p>A diagnosis is a story, in and of itself. When a doctor says “you have pneumonia”, they have actually said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You have an infection of your lungs, probably caused by bacteria or a virus and possibly triggered by that cold you had last week. It will incapacitate you but is likely to be self-limiting if all goes well. Stay at home and take your antibiotics.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can repeat that story by saying the same thing to your employer or your friends. They will know the narrative arc.</p>
<h2>Stories and deviance</h2>
<p>Diagnostic stories are explanations of deviance. By “deviance” we mean the sociological sense of the term: an inability to meet social expectations of behaviour, belief or experience.</p>
<p>To explain deviance, we often defer to diagnosis. Having visions, having an inflated sense of self-worth, being lethargic and unable to keep up with the pace of others are all somehow outside of normal expectations. Diagnosing them as psychosis, narcissism or depression is one way of making sense.</p>
<p>Diagnosis is also used as a storytelling technique for dead people, fictional characters and politicians. Vincent Van Gogh, for example, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot, has received <a href="https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.4.519">retrospective diagnoses</a> ranging from depression to bipolar disorder, temporal lobe epilepsy and acute intermittent porphyria.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People in front of a large-scale self portrait of Vincent van Gogh." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520642/original/file-20230412-24-mz1dym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520642/original/file-20230412-24-mz1dym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520642/original/file-20230412-24-mz1dym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520642/original/file-20230412-24-mz1dym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520642/original/file-20230412-24-mz1dym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520642/original/file-20230412-24-mz1dym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520642/original/file-20230412-24-mz1dym.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people have attempted to diagnose the painter Vincent van Gogh posthumously.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Uriel Sinai/Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More than 150 scientific authors have thrown themselves at finding a diagnosis to explain his deviance. Each diagnostic proposition is an example of the desire to understand Van Gogh. </p>
<p>In similar style, the analysis of Arthur Fleck in the film Joker is replete with learned specialists picking up what the film got wrong, what <a href="https://psychcentral.com/pro/the-joker-mental-status-examination">diagnosis he might actually have</a> or what the impact of his candidate diagnoses might be on real-world sufferers. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-jokers-origin-story-comes-at-a-perfect-moment-clowns-define-our-times-123009">The Joker’s origin story comes at a perfect moment: clowns define our times</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The diagnoses proposed for Joker include psychopathy, pseudobulbar affect, schizotypal personal disorder and many more. But, Fleck doesn’t exist and the cinematic objective of suspending disbelief constructs a character, not a patient. </p>
<p>Similarly, Winnie the Pooh does not have obsessive compulsive disorder, Roo is not autistic and Tigger does not have ADHD. They are make believe. While one could argue these stories serve as ways of helping children to see themselves, stories are sometimes just stories. Not everything is a cautionary tale, an educational tool or a self-reflexive device. </p>
<h2>Medicalising experiences</h2>
<p>The social practice of diagnosis as a way of talking about characters reflects our contemporary understanding of disease and illness as the master narrative to explain deviance, and to legitimise the diagnoses themselves.</p>
<p>These stories say more about us, the diagnosers, and our contemporary views, than the lives of those they seek to describe. But this practice is not without its downsides. </p>
<p>By using diagnosis to explain people, we medicalise our experience of the world and shut down other avenues of explanation. Calling someone a narcissist to explain political behaviour means we’ve given up on politics. We see pathology as the undergirding explanation for unpalatable policy, rather than structural failure.</p>
<p>Just as explaining an imaginary character via diagnosis means we’ve lost faith in stories. Winnie the Pooh is simply a child’s toy “of very little brain.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174056/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Diagnosis is more than the medical process of identifying an illness. It’s a social agreement about what counts as disease and a storytelling tool to make sense of dysfunction.Annemarie Jutel, Professor of Health, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonGinny Russell, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2018142023-03-17T15:45:13Z2023-03-17T15:45:13ZThe Last of Us – a show that surprised and challenged audiences, even those who had played the game<p><strong><em>Warning: this article contains spoilers</em></strong></p>
<p>The first season of HBO’s The Last of Us has come to an end. The TV adaptation of a hit game was a raging success with <a href="https://pressroom.warnermedia.com/ca/media-release/hbo-0/last-us-finale-draws-series-high-82-million-viewers-growing-consistently-throughout#:%7E:text=The%20season%201%20finale%20of,Nielsen%20and%20first%20party%20data.">8.2 million</a> tuning in to HBO’s streaming platform for the finale – impressive considering it aired during the Oscars.</p>
<p>Despite its success, the show has received <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/01/the-last-of-us-video-game-hbo-show-episode-3/672889/">criticism</a> for lacking the action of the original game. Adapting anything is a difficult feat but turning a game into a linear narrative for the screen is more so. </p>
<p>We come to stories, and especially adaptations, with a lot of expectations based on what we know. With The Last of Us, people who had played the game knew the story and those who hadn’t came to the show with ideas about video games, zombie narratives and post-apocalyptic stories. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627315007679">Psychological theories of curiosity</a> broadly suggest that we’re drawn to novel, ambiguous stimuli and that we derive pleasure from successfully interpreting them. </p>
<p>The more novel or ambiguous a narrative is, the more challenging, and therefore pleasurable, it is to infer what will happen by drawing on our expectations, experiences and narrative understanding.</p>
<p>Over its nine episodes, the first season has managed to dash a lot of the <a href="https://www.avclub.com/the-last-of-us-tv-show-hbo-zombie-debate-1850130814">expectations</a> both fans of the game and newcomers had of The Last of Us. The writers have achieved this through clever adaptation that deftly mixes fidelity to the original with thoughtful and unexpected additions to the story. </p>
<h2>An ambiguous world</h2>
<p>Set in a post-apocalyptic 2023, The Last of Us presents a world that’s been ravaged by a pandemic caused by a fungus called “cordyceps” (terrifyingly, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8&ab_channel=BBCStudios">a real fungus</a>), which turns its hosts into violent <a href="https://www.motionpictures.org/2023/02/the-last-of-us-cinematographer-eben-bolter/">zombie-like</a> creatures whose only goal is to spread the infection. The story follows Joel, a smuggler, and Ellie, a feisty teenager who is immune, as they travel across the country to a militant group of revolutionaries called the Fireflies who hope to synthesise a vaccine.</p>
<p>The Last of Us already offers up a lot of ambiguity, which encourages audiences to try and imagine what the rest of the world outside of the story might look like. We are shown Joel’s story in the first days of the pandemic in 2003 before being thrust into the thick of it in 2023.</p>
<p>Audiences can infer what has happened through shots of crumbling cities and overgrown environments. We get a sense of how humanity has changed through the behaviours and attitudes of the characters.</p>
<p>We are never told, but we understand, how cordyceps has spread and changed in 20 years, how the ruling martial authority Fedra (Federal Disaster Response Agency) has coped in maintaining order and how the Fireflies have risen in response. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uLtkt8BonwM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Amid this chaotic world, ambiguous characters are born. It’s a world where the monsters are inherently bad, but where the people could be the best or worst examples of humanity. As such, no one can be trusted. </p>
<p>For instance, in one episode Joel and Ellie are surrounded by armed individuals on horseback. You can see their minds are reeling with the same questions we might have: who are these people and what are their intentions? Friend or foe? We have seen them in this situation a handful of times at this point and it’s ended in gunfire and death. However, the show turns expectations on their head as these people are revealed to be friends.</p>
<h2>New additions</h2>
<p>While some events are fairly faithful to the game’s story, the writers have played with other aspects to create intrigue for those who love the game.</p>
<p>The most distinct of these is episode three’s (Long, Long Time) adaptation of Bill and Frank, a paranoid survivalist and an artist who form a romantic relationship. This relationship is largely implied in the game but deftly explored in the show. While some of the stories are similar to the events of the game, a lot of the narrative is new. </p>
<p>In the game, Frank is dead by the time players meet Bill, so there’s an expectation of his death in the series. However, the specific nature of their relationship differs greatly. </p>
<p>The game portrays a much more sour state of affairs than the episode, which is an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/30/the-last-of-us-recap-episode-three-absolutely-magical-television">unexpectedly moving piece of TV</a> in a show about a bleak, post-apocalyptic world. Players of the game are expecting Frank to die but they see moments that differ from what they know, such as Bill’s close brush with death or the myriad arguments and loving moments between the two.</p>
<p>The ending ultimately subverts expectations offered by the game, portraying a different relationship and different outcomes. In the series, they are still in love. When Frank chooses death in the face of a terminal disease, Bill decides to join him. They die in their sleep, in each other’s arms. In the end, Joel and Ellie never meet with Bill as they do in the game. </p>
<p>Through this episode, HBO’s The Last of Us emphasises to audiences that this is a different story and expectations informed by the game will not be enough. </p>
<p>The Last of Us, therefore, offers all audiences something new to grapple with. It tells its tumultuous story ambiguously, inviting and teasing the audience to read between the lines. </p>
<p>For a show about a “zombie” apocalypse that was adapted from a video game it certainly has made audiences question all sorts of <a href="https://screenrant.com/last-of-us-show-changes-troy-baker-response/">expectations</a> they came to the show with. It has left many <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/how-the-last-of-us-won-over-people-who-hate-video-games-and-zombies">pleasantly surprised</a> as it engaged and challenged viewers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Y78ztF8ODmY&ab_channel=TrixyBlue">emotionally</a> and mentally.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201814/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Higgins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It might have been a show about a zombie apocalypse adapted from a hugely popular game but The Last of Us managed to offer audiences a lot of novel material.Matthew Higgins, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1977662023-01-18T20:28:32Z2023-01-18T20:28:32ZStorytelling allows elders to transfer values and meaning to younger generations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504829/original/file-20230117-22-olpvhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C67%2C6416%2C4241&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People don’t necessarily tell the same stories over and over again because they’re losing cognitive function, but because the stories are important, and they feel we need to know them.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you spent time over the holidays with elderly relatives or friends, you may have heard many of the same stories repeated — perhaps stories you’d heard over the years, or even over the past few hours.</p>
<p>Repeated storytelling can sometimes be unnerving for friends and families, raising concerns about a loved one’s potential cognitive decline, memory loss or perhaps even the onset of dementia.</p>
<p><a href="https://tenstories.ca/">Our research</a> at Queen’s University suggests there is another way to think about repeated storytelling that makes it easier to listen and engage with the stories. We interviewed 20 middle-aged adults who felt they had heard the same stories over and over from their aging parent. We asked them to tell us those stories and we recorded and transcribed them. </p>
<p>We used a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/14439881211248356">narrative inquiry approach</a> to discover that repeated storytelling is a key method for elders to communicate what they believe to be important to their children and loved ones. Narrative inquiry uses the text of stories as research data to explore how people create meaning in their lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An elderly couple and a young man sit around a table chatting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504951/original/file-20230117-21-mowxh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504951/original/file-20230117-21-mowxh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504951/original/file-20230117-21-mowxh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504951/original/file-20230117-21-mowxh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504951/original/file-20230117-21-mowxh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504951/original/file-20230117-21-mowxh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504951/original/file-20230117-21-mowxh5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Storytelling is an essential human process and an effort to share what’s important.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Transmitting values</h2>
<p>Based on nearly 200 collected stories, we found that there are approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/scs.13121">10 stories</a> that older parents repeatedly tell to their adult children. </p>
<p>The hypothesis was that repeated storytelling was about inter-generational transmission of values. By exploring the themes of those repeated stories, we could uncover the meaning and messages elders were communicating to their loved ones. </p>
<p>The ultimate purpose was to offer a new and more constructive way of thinking about stories that we’ve heard many times before, and that can be otherwise perceived as alarming.</p>
<h2>Here’s what we have learned:</h2>
<ol>
<li><p>There are typically just 10 stories that people tell repeatedly. While 10 is not a magic number, it does seem to be about the right number to capture the stories that are told over and over. Interviewees felt that a set of approximately 10 allowed them to do justice to their parent’s stories.</p></li>
<li><p>Among our interviewees, a significant number of their parents’ stories – 87 per cent — took place when they were in their teens or twenties. A person’s second and third decades are a time when they make many of the decisions that shape the rest of their lives; a time when values are consolidated and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.863358">adult identity is formed</a></p></li>
<li><p>What’s important about the 10 stories is not the factual details, but the lesson that was learned, or the value that was reinforced — values like loyalty toward friends, putting family first, maintaining a sense of humour even in hard times, getting an education, speaking up against injustice, and doing what’s right.</p></li>
<li><p>Key themes in the stories reflected the significant events and prevailing values of the early to mid-20th century. Many of the stories revolved around the war, and both domestic and overseas experiences that were formative. Many of our interviewees heard stories about immigrating to Canada, starting out with very little, seeking a better life and working hard. Stories often reflected a more formal time when it was important to uphold standards, make a good impression, know one’s place and adhere to the rules.</p></li>
<li><p>The stories elders tell appear to be curated for the individual receiving them. They would be different if told to another child, a spouse or a friend.</p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Tips for listening</h2>
<p>Our research offers some tips for listening to stories from elders:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Focus on just 10 stories. It can make the listening seem less overwhelming.</p></li>
<li><p>Write them down. Writing challenges us to get the story straight.</p></li>
<li><p>Notice your loved one’s role in the story, as the message is often contained in that role.</p></li>
<li><p>Be attentive to feelings, sensations, tension and discomfort. These can be signals or clues to the meaning of a story.</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, remember these stories are for you — selected and told in the context of your relationship with your loved one. As such, they are a gift from a loved one who is running out of time.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly Asian man speaking to a younger boy who is sitting in a woman's arms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505211/original/file-20230118-7914-mgq0ar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of the stories elderly people told their family and friends revolved around experiences that were formative.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The importance of receiving stories</h2>
<p>Storytelling is an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20067">essential human process</a> and a universal experience associated with aging. Neuroscientists suggest that storytelling has practical survival value for individuals and communities, <a href="https://www.jonathangottschall.com/storytelling-animal">as well as social and psychological benefits</a>. </p>
<p>It may be as powerful as medication or therapy for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.1018">overcoming depression among elders</a>. Storytelling becomes especially important <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2017.1396581">when people become aware of their mortality</a> — when they are ill, suffering or facing death.</p>
<p>People don’t necessarily tell the same stories over and over again because they’re losing cognitive function, but because the stories are important, and they feel we need to know them. Telling stories repeatedly isn’t about forgetfulness or dementia. It’s an effort to share what’s important.</p>
<p>Our hope is that by better understanding elderly storytelling, caregivers may be able to listen in a different way to those repeated stories and understand the messages they contain. Those 10 stories can help us to know our loved one at a deeper level and assist our parent or grandparent with an important developmental task of old age. </p>
<p>This research offers a constructive way for caregivers to hear the repeated stories told by their aging parents, and to offer their loved one the gift of knowing they have been seen and heard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Ann McColl received funding for this work from the Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors program.</span></em></p>Repeated storytelling from elderly relatives doesn’t necessarily always signal age or cognitive decline. It’s about conveying memories and values to a new generation.Mary Ann McColl, Professor, School of Rehabilitation Therapy, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1938212022-12-01T17:16:07Z2022-12-01T17:16:07ZScreenshots have generated new forms of storytelling, from Twitter fan fiction to desktop film<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497722/original/file-20221128-16-utx1fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C31%2C2991%2C1531&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Will Twitter’s future still involve
fictional narratives created by fan communities in the spirit of old epistolary novels?
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Screenshots are as banal as they are ubiquitous. Nowadays, virtually all computer and digital mobile devices can generate a screenshot with a quick pair of key presses. Maybe that’s why they have remained largely underappreciated as a creative practice. </p>
<p>Yet, a closer look at the screenshot tells us interesting stories about not <a href="https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789089648907/movie-circuits">only how media transforms over time</a>, but also how even the humblest technical operation may give rise to sophisticated cultural forms.</p>
<p>What began as a simple way to document electronic images <a href="https://networkcultures.org/blog/publication/prtscn-the-lazy-art-of-screenshot/">has evolved</a> into a form of expression of its own. </p>
<h2>Portable form of annotation</h2>
<p>Because screenshots are so simple to make, they’re a convenient form of annotation. Over the years, computer media have become increasingly dynamic and abundant to the point of being overwhelming.</p>
<p>Screenshots provide a way for users to deal with this issue by isolating certain elements from the huge volume of data they encounter every day and preserving these elements as self-contained pictures.</p>
<p>Screenshots facilitate recollecting content in visual format. Part of their appeal is to sidestep the exclusivity and ephemerality of social media: for example, when people want <a href="https://twitter.com/bollywood_life/status/1597202405766361090">to share a social media post with someone who isn’t a user on that platform</a>.</p>
<p>The power of the screenshot comes from this capacity to displace captured information. The screenshot makes things portable. </p>
<p>The possibilities it creates for moving images across distinct channels increase users’ control over this process. More flexibility in how media objects are constituted and circulate leads to a wider variety of ways to archive them and articulate their meanings. </p>
<h2>‘Print screen’</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A 'print screen' key." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497714/original/file-20221128-26-ge8yuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497714/original/file-20221128-26-ge8yuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497714/original/file-20221128-26-ge8yuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497714/original/file-20221128-26-ge8yuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497714/original/file-20221128-26-ge8yuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497714/original/file-20221128-26-ge8yuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497714/original/file-20221128-26-ge8yuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘print screen’ key on today’s computers is a reminder that the screenshot has a long history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In older, text-based operating systems, the command <em>print screen</em> literally sent the screen contents to a connected printer.</p>
<p><em>Print screen</em> is a tacit reminder that, though it may feel native to digital technologies, the screenshot has a history that precedes them. The need for documenting screen media and representing it in other formats has existed long before personal computers were a thing.</p>
<p>Decades ago, what if a museum needed to document the video art pieces being shown at an exhibition? Or a magazine wanted to demonstrate a new software interface to its readers? Screens <a href="https://www.academia.edu/30813929">had to actually be photographed</a>. </p>
<h2>Video game magazines</h2>
<p>The method of photographing screens resembles <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=Bc-9CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">reproduction photography</a> (repro-photography), a professional technique for duplicating unique images like paintings and engravings. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cover of a 1990s magazine 'Mean Machines' showing a shouting figure in a helmet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497977/original/file-20221129-24-c2soy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1990s video game players photographed their screens to demonstrate high scores for videogame magazines like ‘Mean Machines.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikimedia Commons)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The goal of repro-photography is complete transparency, which entails representing the image as if nothing existed between it and the viewer. It is therefore crucial for the copy to be completely faithful and not betray signs of its origin. In order to achieve this, <a href="https://web.tech.uh.edu/digitalmedia/materials/3351/Photorepro.pdf">the capture process must be strictly controlled</a>.</p>
<p>While this may be difficult to do well, with the proper equipment, forms of reproduction photography are accessible even to amateurs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.retroavengers.com.br/videogame/">Popular video game magazines from the 1990s</a> invited readers to submit pictures of their screens as evidence of their high scores. These magazines often came with instructions on how to photograph screens. </p>
<h2>Richer media format</h2>
<p>A lot has changed since the time of those analog screenshots. In its present digital iteration, the screenshot is not only easier to accomplish, but also a richer media format: Screens can now be recorded in full fidelity, and also in video, with accompanying audio or voice-over narration.</p>
<p>The esthetic conventions governing the practice have also changed. There isn’t the same preoccupation about cleaning the screenshot from the “accidents” of its making — including <a href="https://www.usgamer.net/articles/back-when-screenshots-really-were-screen-shots">interface components (like a thumbprint)</a> that may indicate the screenshot’s origin.</p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="https://www.fotomuseum.ch/de/series/screens-shot/">appeal of the screenshot</a> now seems to lie precisely in the presence of those elements. The dislocation they imply adds context to the image and provides it with extra layers of meaning.</p>
<p>Additionally, those elements can be a source of amusement. They emphasize the character of the screenshot as a fortuitous finding amid the banality of everyday media. Whereas the analog screenshot is aimed at the immediacy of reproduction techniques, the digital one calls upon <a href="https://petapixel.com/the-decisive-moment/">the serendipity of street photography</a>.</p>
<h2>Desktop film</h2>
<p>The esthetic of digital screenshots has found its way into forms of storytelling both avant-garde and popular. One of the most critically appreciated is the <a href="https://www.alsolikelife.com/home/desktop-films">desktop film</a>, a fast-growing genre of audiovisual narratives that unfold entirely in the space of a computer screen.</p>
<p>The first desktop films to become popular were <a href="https://vimeo.com/94101046">experimental works that were like essays in nature</a>. These used the plasticity of graphic interfaces to explore juxtapositions between media from different sources in a form of expanded montage. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_xTLGYR5Yw8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for the 2021 computer screen horror film ‘Dashcam.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This formula is now also being used in more <a href="https://www.imdb.com/list/ls034008089/">commercial projects that embrace the screen as the space of the story</a> or <a href="https://boingboing.net/2020/08/07/watch-this-zoom-prank-inspire.html">incorporate mediation processes as narrative elements</a> in themselves — as often happens in the <a href="https://www.videomaker.com/videonews/2012/06/visual-trends-a-history-of-the-found-footage-genre/">found footage genre</a>, where the nature of the image carries a particular meaning related to the events that took place.</p>
<h2>Social media alternate universe</h2>
<p>On a different side of the cultural spectrum, there is a type of fan fiction dubbed <a href="https://electricliterature.com/fans-on-twitter-are-creating-a-new-kind-of-story-youve-never-seen-before/"><em>social media alternate universe</em>, or smau</a>. </p>
<p>Smaus are fictional narratives created by fan communities in the spirit of old epistolary novels. They are told through the interaction of the characters via fake social media accounts on platforms like Twitter, in posts often rendered and shared as screenshots. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1583607819332251648"}"></div></p>
<p>This format elicits feelings of proximity with the characters, drawing on the allure of the para-social relations that proliferate in social media. </p>
<p>The fact that the dialogues are presented in the same online spaces that the audience regularly inhabits makes them feel more immersed in the story, as if they were eavesdropping on personal conversations.</p>
<h2>Beyond documentation</h2>
<p>Art forms such as desktop films and smaus illustrate how digital screenshots can do much more than simply document an event.</p>
<p>For many people, screens have become the epicentre of everyday relationships and activities. The computer desktop is our chief working environment. </p>
<p>Instant messaging windows and social media feeds are the main gathering places where we meet one another. The screenshot is as close as we can get to an accurate picture of this world. It can be a privileged way to represent it and participate in its narration.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/social-media-and-society-125586"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498128/original/file-20221129-22-imtnz0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=144&fit=crop&dpr=1" width="100%"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Menotti receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Screenshots began as a simple way to document electronic images, but have evolved into forms of expression of their own.Gabriel Menotti, Associate professor, Film and Media Department, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1893222022-12-01T15:22:38Z2022-12-01T15:22:38ZDigital storytelling can be a powerful tool for water researchers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498216/original/file-20221130-12-pr7fvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Digital storytelling offers a way for water researchers to capture the nuance and emotion of people's experiences.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Storytelling and science may, at first glance, seem like strange bedfellows. Scientists usually share their research through academic journals and books or at academic conferences.</p>
<p>But storytelling is a powerful way to share scientific research with non-expert audiences. Today, stories can be built digitally: photos, videos and audio clips create visually, emotionally effective stories that are relatable and easily understood. </p>
<p>There are several reasons for taking this approach. One is that making scientific research accessible is essential for citizens to participate in democracies. And, rather than a researcher sharing people’s insights and experiences in a journal that’s not read by many, they can work with participants to craft stories that <a href="https://theconversation.com/refugee-women-use-their-voices-through-digital-storytelling-97870">give voice to marginalised and oppressed communities</a>.</p>
<p>Good digital storytelling is a way to impart different forms of knowledge in a way that stimulates action. For instance, it can <a href="https://theconversation.com/science-can-influence-policy-and-benefit-the-public-heres-how-41668">influence policy</a>. However, the tool needs to be used by those who have been trained to accurately, ethically and sensitively report various aspects of research findings. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/refugee-women-use-their-voices-through-digital-storytelling-97870">Refugee women use their voices through digital storytelling</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We trained ten early career researchers from six African countries – Senegal, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, and South Africa – about digital storytelling. This work was undertaken by the African Research Universities Alliance <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/iwr/centers/aruacoe/">Water Centre of Excellence</a> and the <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/communityengagement/socialinnovation/aboutthesocialinnovationhub/">Social Innovation Hub</a> at Rhodes University in South Africa. All the participants study some aspect of water, such as pollution, allocation and access.</p>
<p>The researchers created <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@aruawatercoe">digital stories</a> based on their academic work. The videos were shared on several platforms, like email, WhatsApp, Youtube, stakeholder workshops and during <a href="https://youtu.be/iYQ3e2NYb9Q">a symposium</a> at the international 2021 African Research Universities Alliance Biennial Conference.</p>
<h2>What participants told us</h2>
<p>The researchers are all post-doctoral; they obtained their PhDs in the past decade. This was an opportunity to build their capacity as science communicators early on in their careers. First, they participated in a week-long online digital storytelling training workshop, accredited by Rhodes University. They learned, among other things, about building narratives and how to do basic video editing.</p>
<p>A few months after the training, and once the digital stories had been distributed via various platforms, we interviewed the ten participants. We wanted to find out how using digital storytelling had helped them and where there was room for improvement.</p>
<p>They overwhelmingly described digital storytelling as a useful tool for quickly sharing research work and findings with local and international colleagues. It also helped them to advertise their research to potential future funders. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/science-needs-to-start-speaking-to-peoples-everyday-lives-in-africa-67938">Science needs to start speaking to people's everyday lives in Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The training has even inspired institutional change. In Uganda, Makerere University’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Department of Geography have started to use digital stories as teaching aids – including the one developed during training. Makerere has also partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to <a href="https://news.mak.ac.ug/2022/09/prof-nawangwe-urges-makerere-university-community-to-support-the-mastercard-foundation-e-learning-initiative/">set up digital studios</a> that will help produce stories.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498215/original/file-20221130-22-3hx3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498215/original/file-20221130-22-3hx3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498215/original/file-20221130-22-3hx3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498215/original/file-20221130-22-3hx3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498215/original/file-20221130-22-3hx3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498215/original/file-20221130-22-3hx3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498215/original/file-20221130-22-3hx3v7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some of the case studies developed into digital stories during the training.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied by authors</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is a recognition of digital storytelling as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-students-can-use-storytelling-to-bring-the-dangers-of-climate-change-to-life-16669">an important tool</a> for academics. It empowers students to share their research with peers, communities and policy makers. </p>
<p>Participants also found digital storytelling useful in highlighting multiple stakeholders’ experiences. Such nuanced and emotive stories are not often captured in traditional research outputs like journal articles. This approach gave stakeholders an important voice to those who might not have much power in decision making around the management of water resources.</p>
<h2>Some gaps and concerns</h2>
<p>There was room for improvement, though.</p>
<p>For starters, not all the community stakeholders whose experiences were captured in digital stories had access to digital platforms. There are also language limitations. Senegal, for instance, is a Francophone country – so should the video be in French or in English? Our Senegalese participant decided to create a video in French with English subtitles.</p>
<p>There was also a concern that the digital stories were oversimplified or presented idealistic narratives. Participants worried that their stories didn’t adequately reflect how decision making relating to the management of water quality, water use and allocation in each case study context had resulted in some stakeholder groups being marginalised.</p>
<p>Participants also suggested that stakeholder communities could be taught digital storytelling skills. This would allow communities themselves to authentically portray their own experiences. </p>
<h2>Collaboration and communication</h2>
<p>We believe that digital storytelling could become a valuable tool for water resource researchers in Africa. It is a way to enhance science communication and collaborative efforts in addressing water resource challenges.</p>
<p>But training is key. Digital storytellers must be able to accurately, sensitively report on the issues at hand and how these play out for those affected. </p>
<p>Accessibility, too, must be considered. Some of this is linguistic; some relates to the availability of digital resources. And, as our participants suggested, digital storytelling could perhaps be most powerful when local communities are given the skills to lead the creation of digital stories of their particular context, problem and experiences.</p>
<p><em>Thandiwe Matyobeni co-authored this article. The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of ARUA Water Centre of Excellence co-director Isa Kabenge and those of the ARUA Water Centre of Excellence Early Career Researchers who were part of the storytelling course and who responded to a survey following the course (alphabetical): Alphonse Nzarora, Augustina Alexander, Matthew Weaver, Naledi Chere, Notty Libala, Olusola Oribayo, Prossie Nakawuke, Rokhaya Diop.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Traditional research outputs like journal articles don’t often give voice to communities’ stories.Rebecca Powell, Postdoctoral Researcher in Water Science, Rhodes UniversitySukhmani Mantel, Senior Research Officer Institute for water research, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1912452022-10-24T20:00:49Z2022-10-24T20:00:49ZReflection Room: Exploring pandemic-related grief in long-term care homes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491450/original/file-20221024-6634-l5un5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=181%2C502%2C5341%2C3873&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reflection Rooms are evidence-based, participatory art installations that help people express emotions about death and dying.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/reflection-room--exploring-pandemic-related-grief-in-long-term-care-homes" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic created a tremendous amount of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/26323524221092456">collective loss and grieving</a> that requires care and support. This was as true in residential long-term care (LTC) homes, which continue to experience <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/seventh-wave-outbreaks-long-term-care-1.6514707">pandemic-related challenges</a>, as in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12995-022-00352-4">hospitals</a> and among the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/health-promotion-chronic-disease-prevention-canada-research-policy-practice/vol-42-no-5-2022/self-rated-mental-health-community-belonging-life-satisfaction-perceived-change-mental-health-adults-covid-19-pandemic-canada.html">general public</a>. </p>
<p>Through the Reflection Room project, our interdisciplinary team of researchers is partnering with LTC homes in Ontario to create physical spaces to pause, reflect, connect and process grief. </p>
<p>Many LTC home communities were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2075532">seriously affected by COVID-19</a>. On top of the stress from <a href="https://data.ontario.ca/en/dataset/long-term-care-home-covid-19-data/resource/4b64488a-0523-4ebb-811a-fac2f07e6d59">COVID-19 infections and deaths</a>, staff have experienced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2021.03.006">burnout and low morale</a>, and some homes with <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/covid-19-guidance-document-long-term-care-homes-ontario?_ga=2.171566758.786944958.1664389787-699570453.1664389787#section-14">outbreaks</a> must continue to restrict residents’ movements, isolate residents in their rooms and limit activities such as social functions to reduce risk of spread. </p>
<p>Many people within these communities have reflected on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2075532">trauma</a> the pandemic has caused. <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/long-term-care-covid-19-commission-progress-interim-recommendations">Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission Final Report</a> has recommended reforms and counselling services. However, with the immense levels of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15524256.2021.1881692">grief</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221107979">feelings</a> of helplessness, regret and sadness, there is also a need for innovative and timely support for LTC communities. </p>
<h2>Reflection Rooms</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C1137%2C1052&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white card with 'My reflection' printed in red at the top, and a handwritten note reading 'I can't help but wonder...how long until the fatigue catches up to us? I feels like one wave after another.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C0%2C1137%2C1052&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488377/original/file-20221005-16-ym59a3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1062&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A reflection card written by a visitor to a Reflection Room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(SE Research Centre)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Reflection Rooms are evidence-based, participatory art installations created in 2016 by the <a href="https://research.sehc.com/">SE Research Centre</a>, led by Paul Holyoke from the Centre and Barry Stephenson from Memorial University of Newfoundland. The goal of the project is to support people in community and health-care settings to talk about dying and death by providing an immersive space for visitors to read stories written by others and write and share their own stories. </p>
<p>A forthcoming research study evaluated the impact of 62 Reflection Room installations across Canada from 2016-20. We found the installations created space for expressing emotions such as love and regret, and making sense of experiences related to dying and death. </p>
<p>This included making meaning of the mystery of mortality, dying and death, and feeling that connections with memories or with what participants called the spirit can continue after physical death. </p>
<h2>Adaptation during the pandemic</h2>
<p>During the pandemic, <a href="https://vimeo.com/644005228?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=57540768">the Reflection Room project was adapted</a> to address experiences of loss and grief in LTC homes in Ontario. In this evolution of the project, LTC homes are provided with an easy-to-set-up kit incorporating instructions and materials at no cost. These materials include elements such as reflection cards, a red curtain to display the cards, and candles. The kit ensures each LTC home can adapt the Reflection Room to the space available, creating opportunities for quiet and reflection. Reflection Rooms have been installed in 27 LTC homes across Ontario.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young woman in scrubs sitting with an older woman, holding her hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491110/original/file-20221021-26-n0u7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491110/original/file-20221021-26-n0u7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491110/original/file-20221021-26-n0u7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491110/original/file-20221021-26-n0u7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491110/original/file-20221021-26-n0u7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491110/original/file-20221021-26-n0u7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/491110/original/file-20221021-26-n0u7oa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reflection Room visitors included long-term care staff, residents and caregivers, all of whom were affected by grief in the context of COVID-19.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on 68 surveys completed by Reflection Room visitors — including LTC staff, residents and caregivers — we believe these installations offer an opportunity to work through grief in the context of COVID-19. </p>
<p>Reflection Rooms provide a setting where people can look inward in a helpful way, experience calm and peace, and develop a sense of connection and compassion for others. These elements – finding a calm place, reflecting, writing and allowing emotions to arise — are all part of grief work, according to <a href="https://www.virtualhospice.ca/en_US/Main+Site+Navigation/Home/Topics/Topics/Emotional+Health/Grief+Work.aspx">Canadian Virtual Hospice</a>, which provides support and information about palliative and end-of-life care, loss and grieving.</p>
<p>Most people who completed surveys recommend that other LTC homes have a Reflection Room. Many said the project can support those who are grieving and that it is important because it provides a place of respite and self-reflection, and has the potential to support holistic well-being for individuals and communities. </p>
<p>Some visitors to LTC Reflection Rooms commented: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It is a coping mechanism, a place to share grief and see how others are feeling, maybe get a tip on how to cope and move on.” – Caregiver</p>
<p>“Some people can’t ‘talk’ about what’s really on their mind, but find it easier to write about it.” – Resident</p>
<p>“It became a heartwarming and meaningful space.” – LTC home staff</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/loss-and-grief-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/">Experiences of grief</a> can include a range of emotions that come and go unpredictably, including anger, joy, numbness and anguish. Acknowledging and naming grief can be an important step in processing loss in a healthy and transformative way. </p>
<p>In grief and bereavement research, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/s1478951513001211">studies have found</a> that storytelling has an affirming, healing effect on the storyteller and on those who hear the stories. The Reflection Room project does this by providing an opportunity to acknowledge grief, feel less alone and externalize grief through storytelling. </p>
<p>The Reflection Room has evolved to respond to societal and personal needs surrounding loss and grief. One constant throughout the project is that Reflection Rooms offer visitors an opportunity to slow down, work on processing their grief and feel a sense of connection and solidarity with others. </p>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by Neeliya Paripooranam, Reflection Room project manager.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Celina Carter works for SE Research Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Kalles works for the SE Research Centre, SE Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justine Giosa is the Managing Director of the SE Research Centre, SE Health.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Holyoke is the Executive Director of the SE Research Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Stephenson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Reflection Rooms support people making sense of experiences related to dying and death. They provide an immersive space to read stories written by others and write and share their own stories.Celina Carter, Instructor, University of TorontoBarry Stephenson, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Memorial University of NewfoundlandElizabeth Kalles, PhD student, School of Public Health Sciences, University of WaterlooJustine Giosa, Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Public Health Sciences, University of WaterlooPaul Holyoke, Sessional Lecturer, Health Studies program, University College, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853542022-07-19T15:48:02Z2022-07-19T15:48:02ZHow climate storytelling helps people navigate complexity and find solutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474692/original/file-20220718-84976-wc20fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C13%2C1768%2C600&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For a consumer, for instance, making the switch to an electric vehicle (EV) is a difficult decision. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(EVgo Network/flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite learning that climate change is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00585-7">hitting the planet faster than scientists predicted</a>, society has been slow to decrease the use of fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>For a consumer, for instance, making the switch to an electric vehicle (EV) is a difficult decision. There are many interconnected factors to consider, including <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/business/energy-environment/biden-electric-cars-cost.html">the cost</a>, what <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/at-home/electric-car-models.html">model to choose</a>, whether there’s adequate <a href="https://thedriven.io/2022/02/08/ev-charger-wars-anger-and-death-threats-as-frustrated-owners-unplug-electric-cars/">charging infrastructure</a>, if the <a href="https://generation180.org/when-should-i-buy-an-ev/">timing is right</a> and what its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/climate/electric-vehicles-environment.html">environmental impact</a> might be. </p>
<p>Making the decision to buy an EV shows how climate change and its solutions are complex systems. One tool that can help consumers navigate this complexity is an approach called systemic storytelling. According to researchers Elise Talgorn and Monique Hendricks, <a href="http://openresearch.ocadu.ca/id/eprint/3874/2/Talgorn_Storytelling_paper_2021.pdf">systemic stories</a> offer “parallel storylines that intersect to represent an interpretation of a system.” </p>
<p>As professors focused on environmental education, we use storytelling as a tool to communicate the complexity of the climate emergency in <a href="https://climateaction.collabphd.ubc.ca/">university courses</a> and <a href="https://learn.chq.org/courses/rewriting-the-climate-story">international workshops</a>. Ultimately, systemic stories help people <a href="https://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/formakademisk/article/view/874/1920">comprehend complex issues and create accessible frameworks</a> to make decisions and act.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/powerful-local-stories-can-inspire-us-to-take-action-on-climate-change-168177">Powerful, local stories can inspire us to take action on climate change</a>
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<h2>The world is complex</h2>
<p>Society continually sees the difficulty of solving complex problems, whether it is an end to global conflicts, pandemics or climate change. Complexity science allows people to understand the relationships among ever-changing interconnected elements through what is called systems change. </p>
<p>In an article in the <em>Stanford Social Innovation Review</em>, <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/using_story_to_change_systems#">Ella Saltmarshe</a>, whose work lies at the intersection of culture and systems change, writes: “The work of systems change involves <em>seeing</em> systemically — looking at the elements, interconnections, and wider purposes of systems — and <em>acting</em> systemically.” She then affirms how collective stories play a vital role in illustrating both <em>seeing</em> and <em>acting</em> when it comes to the complex systems in which we live. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p41dwzC-h6g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Complexity science: an emerging alternative paradigm to our scientific inquiry.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the book <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/189202/getting-to-maybe-by-frances-westley-brenda-zimmerman-and-michael-patton/9780679314448"><em>Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed</em></a>, the authors similarly elaborate on how complexity arises from the interdependence of various parts and how they interact. In other words, a person can’t be understood simply by parts of their bodies, but as a cohesive whole.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://homerdixon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Homer-Dixon-Oxford-Leadership-Journal-Manion-lecture.pdf">complex world</a>, not every phenomenon can be explained through a linear, cause-and-effect approach. For example, a small change may cause large effects, such as one slow-moving car creating a traffic jam. </p>
<p>To thrive in a complex world, one must adopt a non-linear approach that considers seemingly unrelated, yet interconnected, elements. Rather than being fixated on immediate solutions, focusing on the relationships between the elements to identify patterns, intersections or parallels can help us make meaning and reach decisions. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/simple-thinking-in-a-complex-world-is-a-recipe-for-disaster-69718">Simple thinking in a complex world is a recipe for disaster</a>
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<h2>Storytelling through complexity</h2>
<p>People use language, imagination and creativity to conceptualize problems and act. For example, some coastal communities are deciding how to adapt to sea level rise through <a href="https://calp.forestry.ubc.ca/">visualization tools</a>. </p>
<p>The researchers behind the development of the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2017/08/Climate-Outreach-IPCC-communications-handbook.pdf"><em>Communications Handbook for IPCC Authors</em></a> show how human stories are fundamental to communicating about climate change. Because people respond to stories more than data, they argue, communicating complexity change in narrative formats provides a universal structure that connects a broad range of experiences.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-counter-intuitive-solution-to-getting-people-to-care-about-climate-change-120136">The counter-intuitive solution to getting people to care about climate change</a>
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<p>Stories allow people to select and share the most relevant parts of the whole system, interpret their actions or roles, create meaning, communicate uncertainties and provide relatable trajectories <a href="https://jfsdigital.org/articles-and-essays/vol-23-no-3-march-2019/storytelling-shapes-the-future/">into the future</a>.</p>
<p>Stories can explain complexity because they provide the space for diverse and, at times, opposing points of view. Collective storytelling can also <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/using_story_to_change_systems#">change cultural and mythic narratives</a> to bring communities together and guide a complex system to change. </p>
<h2>The case of EVs</h2>
<p>EVs will reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation globally, with analysts estimating <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2022/executive-summary">200 million EVs on the road by 2030</a>. In Canada, the federal government’s 2022 budget promised a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/transport-canada/news/2022/04/minister-of-transport-announces-the-expansion-of-the-incentives-for-zero-emission-vehicles-program.html">$1.7 billion investment</a> to expand the incentives program for zero-emission vehicles and encourage a switch to EVs. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UzSALIUyiVo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Big Shift: Is Canada ready for the EV revolution?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While an EV revolution may be upon us, governments and companies are still learning effective ways of communicating the benefits of transitioning to an EV. Systemic storytelling can assist in understanding the system more holistically. </p>
<p>Consider EV batteries. A mining company extracts the required metals. Batteries are manufactured internationally. Batteries need to be charged. Batteries must be recycled when they reach the end of their working life. </p>
<p>Each step in the battery life has a real-world human story that parallels other stories in the system of relationships. </p>
<p>For instance, a mining engineer may tell you how they test a rig to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists may reveal how their innovation could lead to widespread recycling of EV batteries. A family looking into buying an EV might not be able to afford a model that meets their needs. </p>
<p>Real-world stories describe the system we live in. Using EVs as an example, connecting systemic stories reveal a holistic view of the system (consumers, industry, politicians, etc.). These stories not only show the system we live in, but also function as an integral part of the climate emergency.</p>
<p>Listening to these connecting stories from a variety of perspectives ultimately empowers us to make informed decisions that collectively make change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185354/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naoko Ellis receives funding from the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). She is registered with the Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Gladwin receives funding from the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). </span></em></p>Climate change and its solutions are complex. One way to understand them — and the decisions that come with them — is through “systemic storytelling.”Naoko Ellis, Professor in Chemical Engineering, University of British ColumbiaDerek Gladwin, Assistant Professor, Language & Literacy Education, and Wall Fellow, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1805002022-05-08T12:22:50Z2022-05-08T12:22:50ZMigrant workers are flipping the script and using Photovoice to tell their own stories<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460804/original/file-20220502-12-zmah4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C1019%2C766&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrant men work in the strawberry fields.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(This is Evidence)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What happens when undocumented Bangladeshi and Pakistani men in Greece pick up their cell phones to record their lives as migrant agricultural workers?</p>
<p>“This will let the people learn how we live our lives here,” said one of the men, referring to the photos and videos they were taking. For the workers, these serve as evidence of their migrant existence.</p>
<p>COVID-19 and worries about food security have resulted in increased media coverage about <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-exploited-foreign-workers-amid-coronavirus/a-54360412">migrant agricultural workers</a>, with stories usually told on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/13/brutal-deaths-of-exploited-migrants-shine-a-spotlight-on-italys-farms">their behalf</a>. Four sets of South Asian migrant men in Greece wanted to flip the script and tell their own stories. </p>
<p>They used <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5335-7">Photovoice, an arts-based social justice tool</a>, to present themselves and their concerns directly to people. This eventually transformed into a travelling multi-media exhibition <a href="https://thisisevidence.com/">and a digital archive</a>, <em>This is Evidence</em>.</p>
<h2>Long hours, low wages</h2>
<p>Each year, thousands of young South Asian men arrive in <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur25/008/2013/en/">Greece, Europe’s frontier</a>, often driven by poverty, climate change, political unrest, or ethnic or religious violence in their home countries. Undocumented and hence “illegal,” they end up in Greece’s agrarian and urban informal economy as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1642740">flexible workers</a>. Despite 90 per cent of Greek agriculture being dependent on <a href="https://www.boell.de/sites/default/files/e-paper_temporary-migrant-workers-in-greek-agriculture.pdf">migrant labour</a>, they are paid low wages, face wage theft and are forced to work long hours without breaks.</p>
<p>Since 2017, I have been conducting research with many of these men to study how their “illegality” and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1642740">restrictive immigration policies</a> shape <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.04.009">labour outcomes</a> and the men’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184X20927050">masculine aspirations</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A screenshot from a WhatsApp group" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460805/original/file-20220502-19-uy3xxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460805/original/file-20220502-19-uy3xxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460805/original/file-20220502-19-uy3xxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460805/original/file-20220502-19-uy3xxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460805/original/file-20220502-19-uy3xxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460805/original/file-20220502-19-uy3xxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460805/original/file-20220502-19-uy3xxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A screenshot of one of the WhatsApp groups, ‘Migrant Workers Welfare Collective’ (the names of participants are pseudonyms).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(This is Evidence)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The process behind the exhibition emerged organically as the men used WhatsApp to send me images of their lives. I suggested the use of Photovoice so they could share their lives with a wider audience.</p>
<p>Photovoice is a participant-oriented visual research strategy used to collaborate with <a href="https://doi.org/10.2752/175145214X13999922103165">socio-economically and politically marginalized populations</a>.</p>
<p>Participants take images of what they consider important and not what researchers wish to highlight. The photos are accompanied by texts that emerge through conversations among Photovoice participants. These narratives are often used to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839909341555">advocate for policy changes</a>.</p>
<p>The unique insider perspective provided by Photovoice makes it highly valuable for <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S1015-60462013000200003&script=sci_arttext&tlng=es">cultural mediation</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325013496596">self-representation</a>.</p>
<h2>Sharing their thoughts</h2>
<p>Three groups of Bangladeshi men employed in the strawberry agribusiness, and one group of Pakistani men engaged in the informal economy in Athens, formed separate WhatsApp groups, including me in each. The groups were active from mid-2018 to late-2021.</p>
<p>They used their phones to take photos, to record video and voice messages about the precarity of life as migrant workers. They also spoke of workplace injuries, sub-standard housing and worker <a href="https://pamehellas.gr/the-unions-succeeded-to-start-the-anti-covid-vaccination-of-migrant-workers-of-manolada">activism for free access to COVID-19 vaccines</a>. The ubiquity of cell phones made it easy to do without drawing attention to themselves.</p>
<p>Through this project, the men were able to communicate with each other and myself using WhatsApp groups as forums for discussion. So their worries about being detained from gathering in one place, combined with unpredictable work hours, did not stop them from being able to document their experiences. This resulted in greater dialogue and collective decision-making.</p>
<p>The rules were simple: permission had to be granted from those photographed and all shared images implied fair use for exhibitions and other methods of awareness-generation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man takes a photo of another man on his cellphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460803/original/file-20220502-22-nrlnrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C1020%2C766&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460803/original/file-20220502-22-nrlnrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460803/original/file-20220502-22-nrlnrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460803/original/file-20220502-22-nrlnrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460803/original/file-20220502-22-nrlnrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460803/original/file-20220502-22-nrlnrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460803/original/file-20220502-22-nrlnrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participants in the project shared photos and stories via WhatsApp.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(This is Evidence)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>This is Evidence</h2>
<p>Their work resulted in a multi-media exhibition I helped curate. We worked together to select images, videos, soundscapes and plan a replica of <a href="https://theconversation.com/migrant-strawberry-pickers-face-deadly-risks-living-in-flammable-shacks-123576">migrant shacks from Manolada</a>.</p>
<p>The exhibition, <em>This is Evidence</em>, was thematic, addressing border crossings, backbreaking labour, COVID-19 and activism. Quotes were selected from their voice messages and interviews.</p>
<p>The exhibition premiered in early April 2022 at Technopolis City of Athens. It will move on to Canada to venues such as <a href="https://www.queensu.ca/theisabel/content/evidence">Kingston, Ont.</a>, <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/">Toronto</a> and <a href="https://www.balsillieschool.ca/">Waterloo, Ont</a>.</p>
<p>While this project engages with a small set of migrant South Asian men in Greece, the visual articulation of their migrant experience resonates with other migrant workers across the world — including those employed under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program in agrarian communities across Canada.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men sit in a circle, cross-legged" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460806/original/file-20220502-12-qxb5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460806/original/file-20220502-12-qxb5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460806/original/file-20220502-12-qxb5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460806/original/file-20220502-12-qxb5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460806/original/file-20220502-12-qxb5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460806/original/file-20220502-12-qxb5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460806/original/file-20220502-12-qxb5qt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Men come together to destress by singing Sufi songs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(This Is Evidence)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This project challenges the stereotypes of migrant men, often vilified because of their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2012.673474">gender identity, race and religion</a>. It also serves to empower by allowing the experiences of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/03/21/migrant-workers-make-our-agricultural-industry-viable-why-do-we-treat-them-as-disposable.html">“disposable” migrant agricultural workers</a> in Greece to reach a wider audience through multi-city exhibitions and the digital archive.</p>
<p>The men recognize that when it comes to being heard by ordinary people, policy and changemakers, many avenues are closed to them. <em>This is Evidence</em> serves as an accessible mode of communication. By disrupting their “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_414">othering</a>,” the men seek to give voice and power back to racialized migrant workers. For them, this project is a political act of resistance.</p>
<p>“We participate to get our voice heard. We want change in the way people view us and our plight.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reena Kukreja receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada - Connection Grant for this work. </span></em></p>Undocumented migrant workers use Photovoice to share their experience working and living in Greece.Reena Kukreja, Assistant Professor, Global Development Studies, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1814592022-05-05T12:43:51Z2022-05-05T12:43:51ZA white librettist wrote an opera about Emmett Till – and some critics are calling for its cancellation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461045/original/file-20220503-12-jpgsmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C22%2C2986%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A faded photograph is attached to the headstone that marks the gravesite of Emmett Till in Chicago.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/faded-photograph-is-attached-to-the-headstone-that-marks-news-photo/1308512100">Scott Olson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Are Black audiences, actors, and producers simply conditioned to having their stories told by white counterparts?” screenwriter and director <a href="https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/op-ed-the-problem-with-white-writers-writing-black-stories/">Darian Lane</a>, who is Black, wondered in a 2021 op-ed for Ebony. </p>
<p>On TV and in film, white authorship of Black stories has long been a point of contention, whether it was David Simon <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/11/us/who-gets-to-tell-a-black-story.html">writing about a Black neighborhood</a> in Baltimore for his series “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/">The Wire</a>” or Tate Taylor writing and directing “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/">The Help</a>.”</p>
<p>It was only a matter of time before this issue would beset the world of opera. Since “Emmett Till, A New American Opera” <a href="https://playbill.com/article/emmett-till-a-new-american-opera-to-premiere-at-john-jay-college">premiered at John Jay College</a> on March 23, 2022,
a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/cancel-a-new-american-opera-emmett-till-at-john-jay-college">Change.org petition</a> has circulated with 12,000-plus signatories calling for the production to never again see the light of day. </p>
<p>The reason?</p>
<p>A white woman named Clare Coss wrote <a href="https://www.uncoveringsound.com/difference-between-a-libretto-and-a-script/">the libretto</a>, or text, for the opera, which she based on an award-winning play she had written called “<a href="https://theaterlife.com/emmett-down-in-my-heart/">Emmett, Down in My Heart</a>” in 2015. </p>
<p>Coss concocted a fictional white female protagonist named Roann Taylor, who fails to call the police when she overhears the lynching of the 14-year-old Till. Eventually, she realizes that her silence has perpetuated injustice and she confronts the killers. </p>
<p>Critics claim the opera elevates the guilt of white audiences while capitalizing on Black trauma. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/03/22/emmett-till-opera-protest/">The Washington Post</a> notes that the production joins a slew of white-authored responses to the Emmett Till murder that didn’t sit well with the Black community, ranging from Bob Dylan’s “<a href="https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/5856">Death of Emmett Till</a>” to Dana Schutz’s painting “<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2022/01/dana-schutz-open-casket-emmett-till-painting.html">Open Casket</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Painting of boy in suit in casket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460796/original/file-20220502-22-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460796/original/file-20220502-22-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460796/original/file-20220502-22-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460796/original/file-20220502-22-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460796/original/file-20220502-22-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460796/original/file-20220502-22-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460796/original/file-20220502-22-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dana Schutz’s painting of Till sparked protests during the 2017 Whitney Biennial, where it was displayed – with some people calling for its destruction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Casket#/media/File:Dana_Schutz_Open_Casket_2016_Oil_on_canvas.jpg">Dana Schutz, Open Casket (2016). Oil on canvas</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the one hand, I sympathize with the frustrating legacy of white artists telling Black stories. On the other hand, my 25 years of experience <a href="https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/0031Q00002QPtm6QAD/anita-gonzalez">teaching African-American theater</a> have made me acutely sensitive to the complications of authorship – especially when it comes to stage productions.</p>
<h2>Whom is the opera for?</h2>
<p>When artists develop new stories about Black experiences it matters who creates the story. How might their own background connect to the narrative? What sort of audience do they have in mind?</p>
<p>Social activist and cultural thinker W.E.B Du Bois published <a href="https://archive.org/search.php?query=sim_pubid%3A10994+AND+volume%3A32&sort=date">an essay in a 1926 issue of Crisis magazine</a> that set out to define what constitutes African American drama. He argued that they were plays that ought to be “about” Black communities, “by” Black authors, written “for” Black audiences and performed “near” Black neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Under this definition, Coss’ opera wouldn’t be considered African American drama. While it was a production about the Black community, it was composed, in part, to help white audiences empathize with Black pain. </p>
<p>And even though Coss has said the opera is intended for everyone, she’s also noted that the inclusion of a white character who recognizes her slow response to racial violence was <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2022/03/23/1088169711/a-new-opera-about-emmett-till-is-criticized-for-being-written-by-a-white-woman">important for predominantly white operagoing audiences to see</a>.</p>
<p>This is the rub. Many Black artists <a href="https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/op-ed-the-problem-with-white-writers-writing-black-stories/">are weary of products told from white perspectives</a> because there’s a tendency for the characters and conflicts to fall into familiar tropes. Lost are the ambiguities and inconsistencies of our unique cultural legacies.</p>
<p>Productions like George Gershwin’s “<a href="https://www.metopera.org/season/2021-22-season/porgy-and-bess/">Porgy and Bess</a>,” where the Black experience is reflected in old tropes, still draw huge crowds. The opera – which tells the story of Porgy, a disabled, downtrodden Black man who lives among drug dealers and addicts – perpetuates stereotypes of Black people as addicts who are incapable of self-sufficiency.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Older man using crutches sings on stage." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461049/original/file-20220503-19080-6ru4ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461049/original/file-20220503-19080-6ru4ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461049/original/file-20220503-19080-6ru4ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461049/original/file-20220503-19080-6ru4ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461049/original/file-20220503-19080-6ru4ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461049/original/file-20220503-19080-6ru4ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461049/original/file-20220503-19080-6ru4ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 2019 dress rehearsal of ‘Porgy and Bess’ at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-baritone-eric-owens-performs-at-the-final-dress-news-photo/1179461251?adppopup=true">Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/george-floyd-protests-police-reform.html">In this moment of raised social consciousness</a>, it’s important to tell stories about Black injustices. But stories of joy, community, healing and wellness are just as important. </p>
<p>So it’s refreshing to see newer musicals like Michael R. Jackson’s “<a href="https://strangeloopmusical.com/">A Strange Loop</a>,” which is now playing on Broadway. Jackson, who is Black, wrote a musical that plumbs the inner psyche of a character named Usher who struggles with anxieties about his queer identity and lifestyle. A chorus of colorful characters depicts his thoughts as he untangles his fraught family relationships and rebuilds his self-esteem. </p>
<h2>The complications of ‘by’</h2>
<p>The “by” of Du Bois’ argument is particularly complex in the case of both the Till opera and “Porgy and Bess.” Both productions feature white authors writing about Black experiences that are then depicted by Black performers. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man in suit sits in chair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=887&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1114&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1114&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461052/original/file-20220503-17-8tt63g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1114&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To W.E.B. Du Bois, a work needed to meet certain criteria to be considered African American drama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dubois-waits-to-be-called-as-a-witness-at-the-federal-news-photo/514697730?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Is the author the writer, producer, director or lead performer? Many productions about the Black experience – Steven Spielberg’s 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088939/">The Color Purple</a>” is just one example that comes to mind – were originally authored by Blacks yet produced by whites to accommodate white sensibilities. At the time of its release, the film also <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2020/04/the-color-purple-debate-anniversary-1202217786/">elicited controversy</a> for depicting Black female experiences through the eyes of a white male producer and director.</p>
<p>The current controversy about the Emmett Till opera ultimately glosses over a complex collaborative processes. As with most performance projects, many artists participated in realizing the final product. Afro-Cuban composer <a href="https://www.tanialeon.com/">Tania León</a> conducted the score. The Harlem Chamber Players and Opera Noire International co-produced the work. </p>
<p>Most importantly, Mary Watkins, the composer, is Black. The composer is usually considered the core creative artist in an operatic work, and Watkins artfully uses emotional arias and music that mimics moans to draw listeners into the anguish of the mother’s loss.</p>
<p>“Even though there are many artists of color involved in this project, the critics are assuming that we have had no impact on the final shape of the piece and that the playwright has somehow forced all of us to tell her story,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/03/22/emmett-till-opera-protest/">Watkins wrote in an email interview</a>. “It is an insult to me as a Black woman and to the cast members who are African-American.” </p>
<h2>Performing race</h2>
<p>One of my students once pointed out that enslaved Africans arrived in the Americas naked and were then forced to don clothing provided by the enslavers. </p>
<p>We have been wearing garments and identities designed to conform to white sensibilities ever since. African American theater historians have long grappled with how to assess Black contributions in a country where white critics, by and large, evaluate our cultural productions. </p>
<p>Books like “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/african-american-performance-and-theater-history-9780195127256?cc=us&lang=en&">African American Performance and Theater History</a>” describe how double-conscious performance styles enabled Black artists to resist stereotypical representations on stage. <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/04/hattie-mcdaniel-gone-with-the-wind-oscars-autobiography">Hattie McDaniel</a>, for example, played the maid in “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_(film)">Gone With the Wind”</a> with tenacious spunk, using sassy comedy to humanize her servile “Mammy” role.</p>
<p>Newer anthologies, like my edited collection “<a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/black-performance-theory">Black Performance Theory</a>,” complicate notions of Black authorship and artistry. The book describes how Blackness circulates through cultural productions as vocal, physical and visual imagery which may or may not be aligned with Black bodies on stage. For example, in “Emmett Till, A New American Opera,” Watkins’ use of resonant open tones in the first few bars of Mamie Till’s lament, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kfwNzQyrDA&t=28s">My Son, My Child</a>,” evokes the choral singing of the African American gospel tradition.</p>
<p>To me, the backlash against the white librettist is ultimately a waste of time. Not only is there room for works done in collaboration with Black artists, but cross-cultural, interethnic collaborations also add to the richness and versatility of performed storytelling. </p>
<p>Du Bois wrote about Black performance as it existed within the confines of a segregated society. Theatrical performances by, for, near and about can certainly unite Black communities around collective storytelling. </p>
<p>But I also cherish the vibrancy of storytelling that includes a diversity of perspectives. I hope to see more operas, plays and musicals that encourage conversations about Black identities – without efforts to cancel those who have contributed to the effort.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Gonzalez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Black audiences are justifiably weary of works about their community told from white perspectives. But authorship isn’t always black and white.Anita Gonzalez, Professor of African American Studies and Performing Arts, Co-Founder/Director Racial Justice Institute, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803262022-05-04T20:07:20Z2022-05-04T20:07:20ZFaced with losing her partner, Chloe Hooper turned to stories to talk to her children about death<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460900/original/file-20220503-16-sp1mcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C4000%2C1982&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Illustration by Anna Walker from Bedtime Stories. (Right) Author Chloe Hooper.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fifth book from Chloe Hooper, an accomplished author of fiction and nonfiction, is in part a bedtime story told across many nights to her two sons, and in part a meditation on how stories – ancient and modern – might sustain or fail us during dark times. </p>
<p>In 2019 Hooper was thrust into a whorl of uncertainty about how and what to tell her children about their father’s very likely terminal leukaemia. Their father is <a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-podcast-don-watson-on-the-rise-of-trump-65401">Don Watson</a>, historian, biographer, speech writer and essayist. Out of the blue, he’d been diagnosed with a rare and trenchant form of his disease.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460695/original/file-20220502-92000-lspm1w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460695/original/file-20220502-92000-lspm1w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460695/original/file-20220502-92000-lspm1w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460695/original/file-20220502-92000-lspm1w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=846&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460695/original/file-20220502-92000-lspm1w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460695/original/file-20220502-92000-lspm1w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460695/original/file-20220502-92000-lspm1w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What can you read to help you when your partner might soon be dead, leaving you alone to rear two little boys? Hooper is looking for the “right words”, “an incantation, a spell of hope for the future”. Ostensibly she is reading not for herself, but for her children. </p>
<p>Her eloquent account of this difficult time in their lives is addressed to her oldest boy, Tobias, a vivacious child and avid reader who had recently started school when Don was diagnosed. In this bedtime story, she writes in the second person, to Tobias, but inevitably the reader is placed in the position of the boy; we readers are her “you”. </p>
<p>Rather enchantingly, Hooper imagines them when they’re much older, pulling this memoir and meditation from a bookshelf, rediscovering their lives during what they will later barely remember, their father’s illness and recuperation. </p>
<h2>Living hopefully, with death nearby</h2>
<p>She imagines they might later be ready for this elegiacal, meditative exploration of living hopefully, with death nearby. “Even going to sleep,” she writes in one of the book’s many instances of expressing the deep connections between life, death and storytelling, “has the old plot line: separation, adventure, return. And each morning is a fresh quest. Sunlight finds its way through the gaps in the drawn curtains.”</p>
<p>The narrative is structured by what she discovers in the books that she reads, the rhythms of family life, and the chronology of Don’s diagnosis, chemotherapy treatment and remarkable recovery. The children steadily grow older. She hands in another book to her publisher. Gabriel is no longer a baby, but a boy with words. A friend’s husband also has cancer, and the friend is shocked to hear that Hooper hasn’t talked to the children yet. Chloe Hooper the mother sometimes flounders, doesn’t know what to say, while Hooper the author writes with aplomb. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/keatings-redfern-speech-is-still-worth-fighting-over-21118">Keating's Redfern speech is still worth fighting over</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>She is an honest memoirist: imperfect, struggling, ready to share with the reader how terrifying motherhood can be. Early in the memoir, Hooper acknowledges that turning to stories that might speak to children about loss and death has been the “perfect way” for her to “avoid thinking about the future”. The first problem she faces as a mother is not what to say, but when to start speaking at all. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460888/original/file-20220503-19206-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460888/original/file-20220503-19206-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460888/original/file-20220503-19206-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460888/original/file-20220503-19206-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460888/original/file-20220503-19206-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460888/original/file-20220503-19206-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460888/original/file-20220503-19206-8flicq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration by Anna Walker, from Bedtime Stories.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hooper turns to <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-monsters-in-my-closet-how-a-geographer-began-mining-myths-85596">myths</a> and legends, epics, the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson tales. She unearths obscure works such as James Janeway’s <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004851306.0001.000?view=toc">A Token for Children, being an Exact Account of the … Joyful Deaths of Several Young Children</a>: “How dost thou spend thy time? Is it in play and idleness, and with wicked children?” </p>
<p>The words with which death, separation and loss have been communicated to children through the ages are key to Hooper’s quest. Were children spoken to differently at times of crisis? Was there something special about the words shared between a parent and a child when only a fire or the moon lit the night? She explores descent narratives, suggesting that humankind’s most reassuring bedtime tale might be that when “our heroes cross to the land of the dead” they “evade death themselves”. </p>
<p>And this uncertainty about whether their hero will cross the river safely is at the heart of Hooper’s terror: that her children will learn about death not through bedtime stories, but first-hand.</p>
<p>She turns to indigenous stories: Mayan, Japanese, Congolese, and Dreaming stories about <a href="https://indigenu.com.au/the-seven-sisters-story/">the Seven Sisters</a>. She reads contemporary narratives, in the much-loved and awarded children’s books that explore loss, illness, absence, separation and death. She reads author biographies, only to discover how many well-known writers for children were themselves orphans, or the child of one surviving parent. After a long time, she concludes that any genre of story will do as long as it resonates, and has “No grand tricks, no showing off.”</p>
<h2>Stories of wonder, and catastrophes avoided</h2>
<p>Much of the memoir is suffused with images of lamplit darkness: the interiors of the family’s Melbourne home, with the boys being read to at night. Every now and then, a turn of the page brings you to poetry, or short passages that express the filament of a moment, of hope. Hooper imagines other parents and children alone together in the dark, searching – like her – for words, reaching way back in time to before the earliest cuneiform or papyrus, hearing stories in which death, fear and loss are ever-present. </p>
<p>But more present than the past is Hooper with the children, and Don, when he is well enough, telling them his stories. Threaded through the pages are her sketches of Watson’s own childhood in the bush and on a farm, showing how his early life made a storyteller of him. There are also reassuringly ordinary milestones of their family life: the honeyeater that nests in a tree outside their kitchen, and the poignant and witty stories that Watson tells to his boys off-the-cuff at bedtime. Their mother reads to them, their father invents. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460894/original/file-20220503-20-eh0m0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration by Anna Walker, from Bedtime Stories.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At a certain point, Hooper asks Don to use his phone to record his stories, just in case. His stories, some of which she recounts, are about “small-scale acts of wonder”. Once the children know of his illness and the possibility of his death, he invents catastrophes avoided, such as the spider that escapes the home owner’s attempts to rid it from the house and discovers a glimpse of a “brilliant, star-filled sky”. </p>
<p>She realises that she and Don were each raised not to talk about death; “Recognising you’re repressed, however, doesn’t cure you of the affliction.” When Don and Hooper do tell Tobias about his father’s diagnosis, it’s a tense scene, with them sitting separately on the couch while he bounces a balloon. </p>
<p>When Tobias asks, “How do we die?”, Hooper at first deflects. The pragmatic questions continue: “When you die does all your skin disappear?” Ever the reader and writer, Hooper conversationally refers Tobias to a book they have read together about the life of forests and leaf-litter, telling the reader that it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/thoreaus-great-insight-for-the-anthropocene-wildness-is-an-attitude-not-a-place-113146">Henry David Thoreau</a> who wrote that “Leaves teach us how to die.” </p>
<p>By the book’s end, she sees that when she’s best handled her children’s questions, an image or a phrase from one of the stories has been there to support her. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-grown-ups-still-need-fairy-tales-87078">Friday essay: why grown-ups still need fairy tales</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The honeyeater’s chicks survive with the help of the family, as does Don. The thoughts and discoveries Hooper shares with the reader are brilliant, perceptive, healing: “We must all assemble our own paper boats, from old designs or whatever scraps of love and hope are at hand.”</p>
<p>The memoir is illustrated with beautiful charcoal-wash sketches and evocations of forests, leaves, birds and skies. The images are a reminder of the child Alice’s wise words at the start of her <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland">Adventures in Wonderland</a>; “what is the use of a book … without pictures or conversations?”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180326/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Messer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When Chloe Hooper’s partner was diagnosed with leukaemia, she struggled to talk about the possibility of his death with their two young children. She found the words in books.Jane Messer, Honorary Associate Professor in Creative Writing and Literature, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1766792022-04-07T20:02:12Z2022-04-07T20:02:12ZFriday essay: empathy or division? On the science and politics of storytelling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455384/original/file-20220331-30357-1jiweib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4265%2C2839&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why don't chimpanzees rule the world? Is storytelling - the mysterious glue that enables millions of humans to cooperate effectively - the answer?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Writers can’t always be trusted when they talk about the power and importance of story. We have a vested interest and can get sentimental, promoting the immense power of story, of narrative, as inherently benign. </p>
<p>Even when a writer is famously sceptical of narrative, such as Joan Didion, the sentimentalists overrule her. As <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/joan-didion-and-the-opposite-of-magical-thinking">Zadie Smith pointed out recently in The New Yorker</a>, one of Didion’s most famous lines – “we tell ourselves stories in order to live” – is now quoted as if Didion is celebrating story rather than warning about delusion. </p>
<p>“It is a peculiarity of Joan Didion’s work that her most ironic formulations are now read as sincere,” Smith says of this line. “A sentence meant as an indictment has transformed into personal credo.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455374/original/file-20220330-5562-mu9b9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joan Didion pictured in 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kathy Willens/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is illuminating, then, to consider fascinating developments in thinking and research on the effects of story from other disciplines, such as philosophy, history and, most recently and surprisingly, perhaps even counter-intuitively, neuroscience. </p>
<p>In discussing story and its effects, I don’t mean only fiction or even prose. Poetry and song are likely our first forms of storytelling. These forms have traditionally included science and history, which are also transmitted as storytelling. First Nations’ science and history, for example, are encoded in stories and songs and visual art. </p>
<p>What we might cautiously call Western culture didn’t used to be so finicky about genre. Science poetry used to be a big deal.</p>
<p>Erasmus Darwin, for example, now most famous as Charles Darwin’s grandfather, was a physician and member of the Royal Society, who also wrote science poetry. He wrote an entire volume of erotic verses praising Carl Linnaeus’ taxonomic botanical system called <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10671/10671-8.txt">The Loves of the Plants</a> (1791). With footnotes. His science poetry was strikingly illustrated by William Blake and Henry Fuseli. And he made a lot of money from it; the volume was reprinted many times. Of one species of fern he wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>E'en round the pole the flames of Love aspire, <br>
And icy bosoms feel the secret fire!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 1608, the great astronomer Johannes Kepler wrote<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium_(novel)"> Somnium or “The Dream”</a>, a novel in which an Icelandic boy and his witch mother learn of an island named Levania (our Moon) from a demon. Somnium presents a detailed imaginative description of how the Earth might look when viewed from the Moon. It is considered the first serious scientific treatise on lunar astronomy. </p>
<p>Kepler understood very well the importance not just of narrative, but of controlling the narrative, which he did very well, as he spent years saving his mother from a charge of witchcraft. </p>
<h2>Oh no, someone’s cat is missing!</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455189/original/file-20220330-6008-14x8iva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the main reasons missing pet stories are so distressing is that we almost never get to know the outcome.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alvesgaspar/Wikimedia commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now, in classic writer fashion, I will introduce another aspect of this topic with a personal anecdote, complete with physical details.</p>
<p>As I was thinking about writing this essay, I was drinking a coffee at the Café de la Fontaine in King’s Cross. Just outside the window stood a streetlight. On the pole was taped a missing cat notice that had not been there the day before. </p>
<p>I hate missing pet notices. I feel so worried for both pet and owner. But there was something else there, I realised at that moment, in the convergence of my thinking about story and then seeing the missing cat poster. It has to do with the power of narrative and the ways in which stories work on our brains. </p>
<p>A few days earlier, something happened that I had never experienced before: NSW Police had sent a text message to my phone about a missing child, a teenage boy, in the Blue Mountains. For the first time, they used the available technology to send a text message to all the phones in the area. Of course, no one was prepared for this. The text suddenly appears on your phone, no warning. I am glad they can do that and I hope it helped, but it is a shock to get a missing person notice out of the blue on your phone. It feels very personal, very close to you.</p>
<p>Now I am going to jump to one of the points about story and how it works from the literature of psychology and neuroscience. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450275/original/file-20220307-110738-1jbh9sx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bluma Zeigarnik (1901-1988).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some readers are probably wondering: hey, but what happened to the missing child? Did they find him? This tension – and retention of information – is related to something called the Zeigarnik effect. </p>
<p>Bluma Zeigarnik was a Lithuanian psychologist, who in 1927 published a paper titled “On Finished and Unfinished Tasks”. She found that study participants were able to recall details of tasks about 90% better when they were interrupted during the task than when they were able to complete them. These findings have, to some extent, been replicated in subsequent studies. </p>
<p>The study had been inspired by Zeigarnik’s professor observing that waiters in a café seemed much better at remembering details of incomplete tabs or orders than completed ones. That is, it seems the brain opens a file on a task and that file stays open until the task is finished. Once the task is complete, the file disappears. </p>
<p>The link to the effectiveness of serial dramas and the way cliffhangers operate in narrative is clear and has been drawn a number of times. A story also opens a file in your brain and it remains open, this networked pattern, like an unfinished tapestry, until the story is resolved. </p>
<p>Stories are the best technology we have for remembering vast amounts of information and detail, so long as all these elements are related in some consequential and important and emotional way – think of bards being able to recite epic tales that go on for days, or Scheherezade’s 1001 nights, or Indigenous songlines, filled with story, that include important information about history and creatures and the motions of stars and details of place.</p>
<p>So some readers may now have a file open in their brains. It sits there, waiting, until we know what happened to the missing boy. He was found, though I don’t know any other details of his story: why he went missing, what went wrong – all of the details that, say, a novel might fill in. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450280/original/file-20220307-85823-1oilhpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450280/original/file-20220307-85823-1oilhpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450280/original/file-20220307-85823-1oilhpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450280/original/file-20220307-85823-1oilhpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450280/original/file-20220307-85823-1oilhpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450280/original/file-20220307-85823-1oilhpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450280/original/file-20220307-85823-1oilhpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1137&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lorrie Moore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andy Manis/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In that café, I realised that one of the main reasons missing pet stories are so distressing is that, unlike most missing-person stories, we almost never get to know the outcome. We never know whether that cat or dog or parrot was found. And there’s another problem: even if the pet is rescued, what happened to it can never be narrativised. We can never really know what happened or how it felt for that creature. </p>
<p>This always makes me think of a line from a brilliant Lorrie Moore short story I often teach in Creative Writing classes titled <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/01/27/people-like-that-are-the-only-people-here">“People Like That are the Only People Here”</a>, about a writer whose baby has cancer. It is a very funny story. No, really. Something that tortures the mother is that her baby cannot narrate his suffering – she will never know that story. Moore writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Who can say what babies do with their agony and shock? Not they themselves … They put it all no place anyone can see. They are like a different race, a different species … </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is one of the great human mysteries. And we don’t know where animals put their suffering either. This seems almost a greater injustice than the suffering itself, and in a way it is. If the suffering is no place anyone can see, then there is little incentive to alleviate it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-art-and-literature-cultivate-empathy-68478">Do art and literature cultivate empathy?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Dreaming the world</h2>
<p>From the never-to-be-known stories of missing pets to the fate of humanity: I want to draw here on the work of historian Yuval Noah Harari, who set out to tell the story of the human species in his book Sapiens (2011). </p>
<p>In Sapiens, Harari notes that our closest relatives are the several species of chimpanzees; we share 99% of our DNA with them. Harari asks: why, when we are so similar, do Sapiens rule the planet, not chimpanzees? Why are the chimps stuck in labs and cages where we study them and do what we like with them? </p>
<p>Harari’s answer is that Sapiens rule the world because we are the only animal that can co-operate flexibly in large numbers. We can cooperate not just at street level or village level or city level; we can create mass co-operation networks, in which thousands and even millions of complete strangers work together towards common goals. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445272/original/file-20220208-23-s7ecvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445272/original/file-20220208-23-s7ecvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445272/original/file-20220208-23-s7ecvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445272/original/file-20220208-23-s7ecvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445272/original/file-20220208-23-s7ecvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445272/original/file-20220208-23-s7ecvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445272/original/file-20220208-23-s7ecvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One-on-one, even ten-on-ten, we humans are very similar to chimpanzees and physically much less powerful. Any attempt to understand our unique role in the world by studying our brains, our bodies, or even our family relations, is doomed to failure. The real difference between us and chimpanzees is the mysterious glue that enables millions of humans to cooperate effectively.</p>
<p>This mysterious glue, Harari concludes, is made of stories, not genes. We cooperate effectively with strangers because we believe in invisible concepts such as gods, nations, money and human rights. None of these things exist outside the stories that people invent and tell one another. </p>
<p>There is no such thing in the universe as a nation or money or human rights – except in the common imagination of human beings. You can never convince a chimpanzee to give you a banana, Harari notes, by promising him that after he dies he will get limitless bananas in chimpanzee Heaven. Only Sapiens believe such things. </p>
<p>At the heart of our mass cooperation networks, you find stories that exist only in the collective imagination. Catholics who don’t know each other can launch an Inquisition or pool funds to build a hospital because they share very specific sets of beliefs, images, and stories about the nature of God. Two Serbs who have never met might risk their lives for one another because they both believe in the existence of the Serbian nation. Two lawyers who have never met can nevertheless combine their efforts to defend a complete stranger because they believe in the existence of laws, justice and human rights.</p>
<p>This is what Margaret Atwood meant when she said you can’t stop people believing in invisible things: it could be God, but it could also be the stock market.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455371/original/file-20220330-6008-18mepde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Margaret Atwood: you can’t stop people believing in invisible things: it could be God or the stock market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jordan Strauss/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Look around you. Almost everything you see once existed only in someone’s mind: the phone in your pocket; the laptop on your desk; the car, bus or train you travel on; the food you eat; the building you live in. Your town, city, nation. The world we live in, day to day, has mostly been created by other people. Of course, the natural world imposes limits on us and will do so ever more stringently and urgently. As my father once said to me, nature always bats last. </p>
<p>But even our understanding of what the natural world is has been invented. It is all created knowledge: the Big Bang, Newton’s laws of motion, orbital mechanics, evolution, dark energy and dark matter, human psychology, ecology, and so on. All of these things may well be real, but our ways of understanding them, formulating them, talking about them are all invented, all created. </p>
<p>It makes a difference whether you believe that mental illness is an imbalance in the brain caused by trauma or genetics, or that it is caused by demonic possession. The stories we tell ourselves matter. In a sense, they are almost the only things that matter, because from them all else flows: how we raise our children, how we do politics, whether we invade that country or fly to the Moon.</p>
<p>The result is that, in contrast to other animals, we Sapiens live in a dual reality. On the one hand, there is the objective reality of oceans, trees and lions; on the other, there is our created and shared reality of gods, nations and companies. </p>
<p>As history has unfolded, the created reality has become ever more powerful, so that today the very survival of oceans, trees and lions depends on the grace of invented entities such as corporations law, the stock market, the European Union and Google.</p>
<p>This is a powerful argument for the importance of diversity in writers’ voices, diversity in the stories we pay attention to. It is important because we need as broad a range of stories to choose from as possible. We can only know our own worldview as part of a story if we can contrast it with other coherent beliefs and worldviews. Just as the ability to tell stories can doom us, it is also now the only thing that can save us.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455373/original/file-20220330-4833-i1okji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The survival of of oceans and trees depends on the grace of invented entities such as stock markets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mary Altaffer/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/history-tells-us-that-ideological-purity-spirals-rarely-end-well-140888">History tells us that ideological 'purity spirals' rarely end well</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The philosophers have their say</h2>
<p>Now I want to bring in our philosophers. The first is an attractive figure: that master of 18th-century empiricism, our canny Scotsman, David Hume, one of the most important figures in the Western philosophical tradition. Hume was a man of wit and charm, popular in the salons of his day, and reasons for this may be evident in the generosity and inclusivity of his ideas around morality.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C20%2C4396%2C5279&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C20%2C4396%2C5279&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445286/original/file-20220209-27-8fvgze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">David Hume - Alan Ramsay (1766)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public domain</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4320/4320-h/4320-h.htm">An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals</a> (1751), Hume offers what he considers to be a scientific theory of morality. In this work, described by historian Professor Darren Staloff as “a transition point in the history of Anglo-American moral philosophy”, Hume argues that philosophy keeps trying to come up with abstract principles about what constitutes virtue and the good life. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, philosophy has generally considered itself the pinnacle of the intellectual tradition. Not so, says Hume. Virtue, he says, is not the result of either self-sacrifice or self-interest. </p>
<p>Hume argues that moral progress consists in including more people – and different kinds of people – in our sense of community, thus extending our moral concern to encompass increasingly large domains. He specifically argues this with regard to women and Native Americans. Women and Indigenous peoples were shabbily and unjustly treated; therefore, progress consists of entering imaginatively into what life is like for people who are not you, who are in fact unlike you. </p>
<p>In other words, Hume reverses the Western philosophical tradition since Plato, who had attempted to wrest moral authority from the poets. Hume gives it back, arguing that literature is vital for moral progress. </p>
<h2>Neo-pragmatism</h2>
<p>It is refreshing, after reading about thousands of years of abstract writing that treats theology and philosophy as the pinnacles of human wisdom, to hear Hume saying no, all this theorising is useless; it is literature we need to pay attention to. And this tradition has been continued by neo-pragmatist philosophers, notably Richard Rorty, who also rejected Plato. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456520/original/file-20220406-14-5sr5gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456520/original/file-20220406-14-5sr5gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456520/original/file-20220406-14-5sr5gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456520/original/file-20220406-14-5sr5gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456520/original/file-20220406-14-5sr5gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456520/original/file-20220406-14-5sr5gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456520/original/file-20220406-14-5sr5gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Philosopher Richard Rorty (1931-2007) argued for the importance of literature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Rorty argues that philosophers have traditionally sought to escape from history by searching for truth,” notes Staloff. “He believes truth can never be found embedded in language. A ‘true’ statement is merely one that we approve of.” </p>
<p>Even more crucially, Rorty argues that language is not merely descriptive, not a kind of analogous system indicating reality, but rather it is itself part of reality. It is causal, not representational. </p>
<p>Rorty reaches the same conclusion as Hume: cruelty is to be ameliorated through cultural edification. The moral education needed to sensitise us to the suffering of others, of those who have to put their suffering “no place anyone can see”, is most effectively absorbed through fiction. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-reflections-on-the-idea-of-a-common-humanity-63811">Friday essay: reflections on the idea of a common humanity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The dangers of narrative</h2>
<p>To be fair to Plato, in proposing to ban the poets from his republic, he was recognising the real danger that the power of narrative can be misused to tell lies, which he blamed for the execution of his beloved teacher Socrates. His reservations must be taken seriously, along with the scepticism of writers such as Didion. Like a very sharp knife, the power of story is neither good nor evil; it cuts both ways. </p>
<p>We see this dilemma enacted every day now. Is Joe Rogan “just” a storyteller and therefore free to spread conspiracy theories and lies about vaccines, resonant as they are, in theme and tone, with the medieval “blood libel” against the Jews? Or should he be expelled from the republic, denied his paid public platform to spread dangerous misinformation? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455375/original/file-20220330-5976-17q8myt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joe Rogan pictured in 2007: ‘just’ a storyteller?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gregory Payan/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion">The Protocols of the Elders of Zion</a>, antisemitic propaganda about supposed Jewish plans for world domination, was first published in Russia in 1903. It is considered an early example of a conspiracy theory. It was thoroughly debunked by The Times in 1921. But it is still spreading its poison around the world. </p>
<p>In that shapeshifting way of totalising lies (almost analogous to the way viruses mutate and adapt), it is now linked to conspiracy theories around the Covid 19 pandemic.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455193/original/file-20220330-5730-1bq22z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455193/original/file-20220330-5730-1bq22z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455193/original/file-20220330-5730-1bq22z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455193/original/file-20220330-5730-1bq22z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455193/original/file-20220330-5730-1bq22z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455193/original/file-20220330-5730-1bq22z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455193/original/file-20220330-5730-1bq22z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plato (c.370 BCE)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Public domain</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>So on the one hand we have philosophers, such as Hume and Rorty, arguing for the critical role of literature, of story, in building empathy, expanding the realm of those whose suffering we are sensitised to. If one of the greatest injustices is that beings are forced to put their suffering “no place anyone can see”, then, according to Hume and Rorty (and many creative writers), the proper use and study of literature is one of the few ways we can illuminate such places. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there is the long tradition of Plato and many other philosophers who have argued for the importance of transcendent objective truth. </p>
<p>In our current emergencies over the acceptance of vaccines and the imperative for action on climate, we can see that the need to find a way to agree on what constitutes an objective truth is more urgent than ever.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-is-still-pushed-by-anti-semites-more-than-a-century-after-hoax-first-circulated-145220">Why the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' is still pushed by anti-Semites more than a century after hoax first circulated</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>Language as virtual reality</h2>
<p>What underlying mechanisms or processes in human beings could underpin the critical role of story? What is the power of language that allows shared realities to be created by large numbers of people across space and time? It may be that neuroscience is starting to provide some fascinating clues.</p>
<p>It seems that language and storytelling operate as the original and very powerful forms of virtual reality. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_magnetic_resonance_imaging">fMRI technology</a>, which can show us mental processes in real time, is starting to illuminate the physical processes that drive this. </p>
<p>Our brains exist in silence and darkness, with sense data presented by electrical signals. The brain builds its picture of the world from these electrical signals. It is not surprising that the electrical signals triggered by reading are as real to the brain as any other kind of electrical signal. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100109043">A study by professor of psychology Jeff Zacks</a> has shown that reading about an action triggers the same areas of the brain as actually performing that action. </p>
<p>“We’re used to thinking that virtual reality is something that involves fancy computers and helmets and gadgets,” notes Zacks. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>But what these kind of data suggest is that language itself is a powerful form of virtual reality, that there’s an important sense in which when we tell each other stories that we can control the perceptional processes that are happening in each other’s brains.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455382/original/file-20220330-23-1ddfqrn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research has found reading about an action triggers the same areas of the brain as actually performing the action.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These kinds of studies can now show us some of the variables that influence the effectiveness of the stories we tell and the influence they can have over the processes in each other’s brains. </p>
<p>As the science writer Annie Murphy Paul has noted, precise words can stimulate specific areas. Words such as “grasp” and “kick” light up not just the motor cortex, but the part of it responsible for those movements. Read a sentence such as “the baking cookies smelled sweet” and the language processing areas of your brain will work, but the part dealing with smells remains dark. When you read “the cookies smelled of cinnamon” that area lights up too. </p>
<h2>Hearts beat as one</h2>
<p>We now have a very recent finding on how deep this entrainment goes. The power of stories extends not just from controlling the brains of readers or listeners, but their hearts too.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455191/original/file-20220330-5663-1bleuv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455191/original/file-20220330-5663-1bleuv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455191/original/file-20220330-5663-1bleuv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455191/original/file-20220330-5663-1bleuv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=635&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455191/original/file-20220330-5663-1bleuv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455191/original/file-20220330-5663-1bleuv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455191/original/file-20220330-5663-1bleuv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professor Andrew D. Huberman PhD.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia commons</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Professor Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist who directs a research lab at the Stanford University School of Medicine that investigates, among other things, the neurology of anxiety and stress, cognition and performance.</p>
<p><a href="https://hubermanlab.com/">He hosts a popular podcast</a>, in which he draws from recent scientific literature to empower listeners to take practical steps to improve sleep, say, or diet. In a recent episode, he reported a remarkable finding in terms that for him were unusually dramatic:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is a paper that came out in the journal Cell Reports – very reputable scientific journal. The study involved having subjects listen to a story. The subjects are all listening to the same story but those subjects are not listening to it together. They are in separate rooms or even entirely separate locations on the planet, or they are brought into the laboratory on separate days – so these subjects are separated by time and space.</p>
<p>What this study found is that different subjects listening to the same story undergo the same variation in heart rate. In other words the gaps between their heartbeats start to resemble one another in response to the same story. </p>
<p>This is absolutely remarkable – just think about that for a minute – this is a coordination of the physiology of the body in response to a narrative, a story, in different people. And yet when they line up the heart rates of these different people listening to the story at different times and in different places, they find that those heart rates map onto one another almost identically.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Huberman explains why this is so remarkable and notes that more broadly this means coordination between neural circuits in the brain and body, coordination with the lungs and other organs.</p>
<p>“I think these results are just beautiful,” Huberman says. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the sense that they really show that our brain and body are highly coordinated because people are listening to the story and the heart rate is changing in response to the story, but that there is what we call a stereotyped response to a given story. In my mind there was no reason the results had to be this way. You know, two people listen to the same story, why should their heart rates be almost identical? Very very interesting and points to the power of narrative and story in coordinating our physiology.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The causal quality of language</h2>
<p>Rorty’s contention that language is causal, not just descriptive, seems to be borne out by current studies in neuroscience.</p>
<p>If Hume and Rorty are correct that story is the best technology we have for expanding empathy and solidarity (and the neuroscience seems increasingly to show that there are physiological mechanisms capable of driving such a process), then this clarifies why intolerant regimes and neoliberal governments so consistently attack, interfere with and defund the humanities and the arts. </p>
<p>Political systems that rely on division and intolerance try to dissolve or at least narrow solidarity, even as they attempt to intensify it within more tightly defined boundaries. Solidarity is the quality, according to Rorty, that holds postmodern bourgeois “liberal” society together. </p>
<p>But as we have seen, story itself can be used to drive division as much as to cement solidarity. Narratives can enlarge the scope of our concerns; they can illuminate the sufferings of others. But they can also reinforce fear and intolerance, and they do this through processes grounded in the deepest physiological fibres of our being. </p>
<p>Despite Didion’s warning, we will continue to tell stories, because they are one of the primary ways we have of understanding and then shaping the world. This makes storytelling inherently political, because politics is the practical expression of morality. </p>
<p>This also illuminates why politics (and indeed any politician) grounded in any grand master-narrative, such as religion or a doctrinaire version of a political theory, is so dangerous. Such master narratives, the very ones deconstructed by postmodernism, claim not to be stories at all, but transcendent truths, which therefore cannot be critiqued or changed. </p>
<p>The pluralism embraced by postmodernism and deconstruction actually brings us closer to the truth, because it allows us to understand things in comparative ways and is thus the very precondition of beginning to think meaningfully about them. </p>
<p><a href="https://dro.dur.ac.uk/4617/1/4617.pdf">Writing on Rorty and postmodernism</a>, Patricia Waugh notes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>What makes Rorty “strong” in his postmodernism, despite his defence of consensus as the basis of democracy, is the textualist insistence that society can only be transformed without violence through an aesthetic version of genetic engineering where it is vocabularies and not genes which determine the kind of life we shall lead. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This claim illuminates why the battle over issues such as pronouns is so important and why the right resists so fiercely the idea of calling trans people by their proper pronouns, all the while claiming such issues are trivial. But if we don’t agree to alter our reality with words then we are left with guns, and we can see how well that is working out just now.</p>
<p>Rebecca Solnit brings many of these questions and concerns together in her 2019 essay <a href="https://granta.com/products/whose-story-is-this/">Whose Story Is This?</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Who gets to be the subject of the story is an immensely political question, and feminism has given us a host of books that shift the focus from the original protagonist — from Jane Eyre to Mr. Rochester’s Caribbean first wife, from Dorothy to the Wicked Witch, and so forth. But in the news and political life, we’re still struggling over whose story it is, who matters, and who our compassion and interest should be directed at.</p>
<p>The common denominator of so many of the strange and troubling cultural narratives coming our way is a set of assumptions about who matters, whose story it is, who deserves the pity and the treats and the presumptions of innocence, the kid gloves and the red carpet, and ultimately the kingdom, the power, and the glory. You already know who. It’s white people in general and white men in particular, and especially white Protestant men, some of whom are apparently dismayed to find out that there is going to be, as your mom might have put it, sharing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The sharing that Solnit alludes to here links to Rorty’s ideas about the importance of solidarity and consensus for democracy. Consensus can’t be imposed and solidarity should not be manufactured by indulging in fantasies of a homogenous, unified society (and narrative) that never really existed. The only way forward, as Solnit puts it, is “sharing”.</p>
<p>This brings us back to the unique power of story. It has one killer feature, an extra feature that not even real life has. As Annie Murphy Paul notes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>novels go beyond simulating reality to give readers an experience unavailable off the page: the opportunity to enter fully into other people’s thoughts and feelings. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This killer feature is one aspect of the power that Plato, Didion and many others wisely fear, and Hume and Rorty rightly celebrate. It is not a power we can or will stop using, so one of the great battles of our time, as Solnit says, is “who the story is about, who matters and who decides”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Corbett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The unique power of story is like a sharp knife, writes Claire Corbett. It is neither good nor evil, but can cut both ways.Claire Corbett, Lecturer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.