Title: The Power of Stories Author: Arrey Mbongaya Ivo Copyrights2012 African Centre for Community and Development. All Rights Reserved Summary The benefits of using stories as a device for social change. What the storyteller must do to make the message heard and the challenges are also discussed in the article.

1. The Power of Stories
by Arrey Mbongaya Ivo
African Centre for Community and Development
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Date 14/05/2012
Copyrights2012 African Centre for Community and Development. All Rights Reserved.

2. Stories are very powerful ways of communicating events and of empowering and directing
communities on pathways to follow or of informing them of pathways of the past. They are told by
storytellers in various media and with different reasons, angles and sometimes for very varied
audiences. Despite the differences in storytelling styles and the motivations, stories remain a vital
aspect of human lives and are powerful tools for social change. Some of the ways in which stories have
been used include the following:
In Africa stories have been used to hand down histories and events via oral traditions. In this light
stories are considered as part of the intangible cultural heritage of the world.
In the bible stories were used to report historical and as well as religious events in the past. Judging
from the number of Christians and other denominations in existence today, one cannot deny the
effectiveness of biblical stories so far.
Today stories are increasingly used to communicate and to highlight people, events and other entities in
the form of news, features, magazines, newsletters and social media but despite stories being powerful
vehicles for social change, there are some challenges that sometimes affect effective storytelling. They
include:
• The influence of powerful actors on the outcome of a storyteller's piece. This has been leveled
against sponsors or certain powerful political entities and has led arguably to the reason why
many news reports are considered as doctored or certain features are thought to be underlined
with subtle commercials. That commercials are a weapon of storytelling cannot be denied
despite some of the ramifications as well.
• The influence of skewed historical, sociological and social underpinnings in the appreciation of
an event or subject that is being reported. Some stories have been approached from inferiority
or superiority complexes and lead to misrepresentations of given focuses.
• The lack of experiences or research or knowledge within stories necessary to add power to the
message. This may lead to unnecessary generalities, insensitivity and sometimes too much
exaggeration. While many scholars have argued that things that are bleak should be painted as
bleak or for happiness to be depicted with all its merits there has not been a definitive threshold
for storytellers to keep their focus from straying or from misrepresentations. That this is
difficult in doing cannot be ignored.
• The lack of authenticity as many storytellers have not researched their subjects well or are
known to be affected by bias and other immoral compasses. Many storytellers are unconnected
by way of knowledge, morality and experience to their subjects and even their audiences hence

3. making storytelling as a weapon for social change very difficult.
Despite these challenges stories can still be weapons to act, relate and interact between peoples or
between ideologies in order to map trajectories for common social good. The advantages of using
stories in creating social dialogue include:
• The possibility of changing biased mindsets and uninformed listeners of the true nature of a
plight, situation, community or individual. This has helped in the rewriting of some histories
across the world especially when storytelling was done on commission for the powerful or for
rulers in order to justify suppression and domination or favour.
• More so, storytelling can be way of image branding. Many vulnerable communities do not have
the means to appear on certain traditional media outlets or are sometimes spoken or written
about by storytellers who do not have the moral compass to be objective or that have lenses
skewed from their own handed down traditions or education. Therefore using storytelling as a
way to communicate and in changing such mindsets might end up in highlighting the true
conditions of the poorly represented subjects and possibly lead to interactions vital for social
mobilization and change.
• Besides, the more storytellers are on any one subject the more diversity and content the
audience is left with. More content helps in the approach of issues in an informed and holistic
manner vital in dealing with the diverse viewpoints, cultures and aspirations of the world.
• More over storytelling is part of human culture. Man has communicated via different forms of
storytelling through history. Man has tried to tell others of his experiences on stones in caves,
via films, poetry, proverbs and even sculpture. Therefore using stories as a way of
communication reiterates a human quest from generation to generation to be understood and to
live in dignity.
For the storyteller to be more effective, he/she must seek to paint the concise picture, to use the best
figures to highlight events or subjects and work within compasses that empower without loosing their
essence. In this light the storyteller becomes a social advocate hence must be tough when the subject
matter is that which needs a strong scrutiny and be light-hearted when the escapism does not warrant
too much seriousness. Be they be fictional or real, stories have audiences and ramifications and must be
well spoken or written with various paradigms in consideration to impact better. That precision
storytelling is difficult is a fact. However not doing enough to be almost precise is a burden storytellers
must not be carrying especially in this informed hour of human interconnectedness.

4. Bibliography:
Oral traditions and expressions including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/?pg=00053
Influence Through Storytelling by Michael Zigarelli
http://www.christianity9to5.org/influence-through-storytelling/
How to Influence and Inspire Others Through the Art of Storytelling
http://www.bates-communications.com/insights/bid/83290/How-to-Influence-and-Inspire-Others-
Through-the-Art-of-Storytelling
Keeping the Tradition of African Storytelling Alive by Octavia Utley
http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_09.01.08_u
Copyrights2012 African Centre for Community and Development. All rights reserved.