Narratives are what we use to drive change in the world. However, the narratives that are most often told about poverty, aid, and assistance, although perhaps well-intentioned, are often detrimental to those they seek to help. The message of empowerment is one of me (who has power) giving you (who is powerless) some power.
This can be seen in much of the writing about developing African countries. Often times the narrative explains Africa’s lack of development as a result of happenstance, bad luck, and internal problems and ignores the fact that inequalities were the inevitable result of colonialism and plunder. They absolve the West of responsibility and do little to provide a true voice for the people of Africa. It is a narrative of white saviors, the west deciding how Africa should develop, and not conversations by Africans deciding how they want their countries to develop. In telling these sorts of narratives you have to be cognitive of your privilege and ensure you are truly representing the people you are supposed to be working for.
While having oppressed, or vulnerable, or abused people tell their personal stories may be an effective way to move people and fundraise, it can be very damaging. Pay attention to the attribution of responsibility. Tell narratives that show how systems and not individual behavior produce these outcomes. We need to think in terms of long term change and thus tell stories that educate, and not merely incite an emotional response. This may mean losing cents on the dollar when it comes to fundraising, but is important in the goal of changing the mentality of the masses.
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Why Do They Know It's Christmas Time was the Wrong Question
1. BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK| #ComNet19
The West seems to
suffer deep anxieties
about the precariousness
of its civilization and to
have a need for constant
reassurance by
comparison with Africa.
“
– Chinua Achebe
6. BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK| #ComNet19
20% of references to Africa in
unscripted entertainment – like talk
shows and reality TV – were made on
Jeopardy!
- USC Norman Lear Center (Jan 2019)
7. BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK| #ComNet19
“
Colonialism is not satisfied
merely with holding a people
in its grip and emptying the
native’s brain of all form and
content. By a kind of
perverted logic, it turns to the
past of the oppressed people,
and distorts, disfigures, and
destroys it.
– Frantz Fanon
10. BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK| #ComNet19
Power is the ability
not just to tell the
story of another
person, but to make
it the definitive story
of that person.
– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“
