Introduction
A book including tools, pragmatic lessons and case studies on harnessing the power of narrative, culture, and imagination to help our movements win.
Please note this book refers to the organisation smartMeme which is now the Center for Story Based Strategy.
About Re:Imagining Change
Re:Imagining Change is a stand-alone introduction to story-based strategy and a curriculum reader that can accompany story-based strategy workshops. We offer tools that can be applied to existing campaigns and explore narrative itself as a social change lens that, when used effectively, can lead to new types of strategies and action. This manual is a resource for people who want to create change and shift our society toward a more just and sustainable future. We caution that, like all political strategies, narrative approaches must be grounded in principles and ethics. In our case this means a commitment to honesty, undoing oppression, and accountability to our partners and the communities we serve. We situate our applications of story-based strategy in the context of struggles for social justice, self-determination, and an ecologically sane society. The ideas and tools presented in Re:Imagining Change are ingredients for a story-based strategy, and should be applied alongside the time-tested tools of strategic nonviolence, strategic communications, community organizing, and antiracism.
It is our sincere hope that Re:Imagining Change will be a conversation starter with people from all walks of life who are willing to think big, dream hard, and struggle like hell for a better world.
This manual is divided into five primary sections. The book opens with a visual overview of the story-based strategy campaign model. Section II introduces the theoretical framework of narrative power analysis. This includes using the elements of story to deconstruct the stories we want to change as well as to construct the stories we want to tell. Section III presents the battle of the story method for creating social change narratives and messages. Section IV outlines the points of intervention model with a focus on action at the point of assumption as a means of shifting narratives. Section V presents four case studies of story- based strategy applied in grassroots struggles. The final section explores the unique relevance of story-based strategy in addressing our present political moment as defined by the unfolding ecological crisis.
We have inevitably borrowed theoretical concepts from existing bodies of work. We also humbly offer some new specialized language to communicate innovations in our thinking. Our intent is not to mystify with jargon, but rather to embrace the power of naming to communicate new ideas. We have included a glossary to define key terms throughout the manual. Glossary items are marked in bold throughout the text.
This excerpt is from pp 13 – 14 of the book.
Contents
I. INTRODUCTION: THE POWER OF STORY 11
1.1 From Improvement to Innovation 11
1.2 Our Approach: Story-based Strategy 12
1.3 About Re:Imagining Change 13
Story-based Strategy Campaign Model 15
II. NARRATIVE POWER ANALYSIS 17
2.1 We Are Made of Stories 17
2.2 Narrative Power Analysis 18
Reflections: Storytelling 19
2.3 Power and Mythology 21
2.4 Creation Myths of the United States 24
Reflections: Narrative Power 26
2.5 Filters vs. Facts 27
2.6 Designer Stories & the Branded World 28
2.7 Memes 32
Movement Memes 34
Reflections: Memes 34
2.8 Control Memes 35
2.9 Applying Narrative Power Analysis:
Elements of Story 38
Reflections: Elements of a Story 40
III. WINNING THE BATTLE OF THE STORY 43
3.1 The Story of the Battle 43
3.2 The Battle of the Story 44
Reflections: Story of the Battle 46
Worksheet: Battle of the Story 47
3.3 Framing the Conflict 48
Reflections: Information Warfare 49
3.4 Creating Narrative Frames 51
3.5 Reframing 52
3.6 Characters 53
3.7 Imagery: Show Don’t Tell 56
3.8 Foreshadowing 57
Brand Busting 58
3.9 Designing a Framing Narrative 60
3.10Action Logic & Meta-Verbs 62
3.11Going Viral: Meme Campaigns 63
IV. POINTS OF INTERVENTION 67
4.1 Social Change as Intervention 67
4.2 Point of Production 70
4.3 Point of Destruction 70
4.4 Point of Consumption 71
4.5 Point of Decision 72
4.6 Point of Assumption 73
4.7 Offering New Futures 74
4.8 Reframing Debates 75
4.9 Subverting Spectacles 76
Selling the World Bank on eBay 77
4.10 Repurposing Pop(ular) Culture Narratives 78
4.11 Making the Invisible Visible 80
Reflections: Starting with Assumptions 81
Worksheet: Point of Intervention 83
V. CHANGING THE STORY 85
5.1 Strategic Improvisation 85
5.2 Greenpeace: Save the Whales 88
5.3 Rural Vermont: One Contaminated Farm is One Too Many 90
5.4 Protect Our Waters: Our Most Precious Resource 93
5.5 The Coalition of Immokalee Workers: 96
Consciousness + Commitment = Change
VI. FACING THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS: A CALL TO INNOVATION 101
6.1 Beyond Talking Points 101
6.2 The Slow-Motion Apocalypse 103
6.3 Psychic Breaks 105
6.4 Toward Ecological Justice 107
ENDNOTES 112
GLOSSARY 120
FURTHER READING 126
ABOUT SMARTMEME 136
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 137
ABOUT PM PRESS 138
FRIENDS OF PM PRESS 139
If you want to build a ship, don’t herd people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. ~ Antoine de St. Exupéry
Download Resource
Purchase 2nd edition (2nd edition – 2017 – Book)
“Re:Imagining Change provides resources, theory, hands-on tools, and illuminating case studies for the next generation of innovative change-makers. This unique book explores how culture, media, memes, and narrative intertwine with social change strategies, and offers practical methods to amplify progressive causes in the popular culture. Re:Imagining Change is an inspirational inside look at the trailblazing methodology developed by the Center for Story-based Strategy over fifteen years of their movement building partnerships. This practitioner’s guide is an impassioned call to innovate our strategies for confronting the escalating social and ecological crises of the twenty-first century. This new, expanded second edition includes updated examples from the frontlines of social movements and provides the reader with easy-to-use tools to change the stories they care about most.” – From Publisher’s website (PM Press)
Story-Based Strategy 101 – a summary of key concepts from the Center for Story Based Strategy.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA