Terminology in the storytelling boom.
Journalism | Narratology | Communications | Narrative theory | Media
The language of the storytelling boom is interdisciplinary.
The storytelling boom began in the digital media and communications domain — but the study of storytelling is situated firmly within literature studies — so terminology is drawn from both disciplines. Those who produce stories typically use language from Journalism, Media & Communications studies, and those who study stories typically use language from Literature & Narrative studies.
Strategic storytelling sits at the intersection of communications and narrative.
Narrative
(and why am I so confused?)
Don’t worry — you’re not alone!
“Narrative” is a buzzword that has been coopted by different industries and disciplines, and as a result it’s being used differently by different people .
Rather than choose the “right” definition, it’s more useful to understand the ways the term is being used. Below are four current uses of the word “narrative”. Learn more on The Narrative Home.
A useful rule of thumb: narrative scholars usually use “narrative” as short for “narrative text” and the descriptor is what the story is about. For example: “climate change narratives” are narrative texts about climate change.
In contrast, media & communications are more interested in understanding the opinions expressed in a narrative text, so “narrative” references a point of view and the descriptor indicates whose point of view it is. For example, “the media narrative” is the point of view of the media.
However, when media & communications are referencing the general point of view of the public — the descriptor will indicate the topic and the narrator will not be named. For example, “the climate change narrative” references the dominant public opinion about climate change.
Learn more about terminology differences here.
Shared Terminology
Same words, different meaning
Different words, same meaning
Literature & Narrative
Ethical storytelling
Generally refers to narrative ethics.
Organizational storytelling or corporate storytelling
Instrumentalized storytelling
Text
Journalism, Media & Communications
Generally refers to the practice of storytelling with processes in place to prevent causing harm.
Strategic storytelling
Strategic storytelling or impact storytelling
Content or Copy
How is “narrative” being used?
Narrative: A type of text
This is the original meaning, dating back to around 1450, and is used to describe a type of text that tells a story: it has a beginning, middle and end, characters, setting etc (you know the drill). In this use, you could use “narrative” to differentiate between a book that tells the story of the restaurant The French Laundry and a book that contains recipes from the chef.
This use — describing a type of text — also uses “story” interchangeably: describing a text as a “narrative” or a “story” means the same thing. It would be more helpful if “narrative text” was used in this context, rather than just “narrative”, but as the original use was always describing a type of text it makes sense that this use doesn’t add “text” to clarify.
Narrative: Something we do
This use refers to a way of thinking common to all humans: a cognitive process also called “narrative cognition” or “narrative thinking”. It refers to the way we process information in order to make a decision, especially under complex conditions, and is why people say “we think in narrative” or “we think in stories”. In this case, a story is the result — or product — of narrative — a cognitive process.
Narrative: A point of view
This use could be replaced with “point of view” to avoid a lot of confusion, and is mostly used within Media & Communications to distinguish different points of view on an issue or event. This use has becoming more popular as we see increasing distance between reports on the same event by different media publications: their “narrative” (or point of view) explains how the same event could be described vastly differently. Increasing social division has made this concept more relevant, in particular in relation to texts published by political groups.
Another way to describe this would be to say “the story, as narrated by the media” to draw attention to the different narrator in each version of a story. However, it’s usually just said as “the media narrative”.
Narrative: A belief system
This use could be replaced with “belief system” or “worldview”, and is mostly used by nonprofit or social change organizations conducting persuasion. This use is typically referring to personal (or shared) beliefs that influence a personal (or shared) point of view, and “narrative change” is an area of work that has emerged within social change organizations.