How engaging with stories can help us reclaim local power

Asking for people’s stories—especially when they can provide their own voice in interpretation—allows a community to find multiple truths and identify many possible paths. Consensus waters down or silences the stories of people who can’t make meetings. Participatory Narrative Inquiry (PNI) lifts them up as distinctive points of interest. Stories inspire with ideas rooted in a place; they motivate with empathy, rather than divide with opinion. Stories don’t waste people’s time trying to come to consensus where it doesn’t exist, and they don’t erase important differences.

According to Kurtz, “Unique among our forms of communication, stories do not force unity but preserve conflict and contrast at all scales.”

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