Storytelling For Peace: Introduction


	Storytelling For Peace By Caren Neile
	Negotiators, lawyers, educators, and storytellers have long recognized the value of storytelling as a formidable tool for reconciling differences and building peaceful relationships. If we think of conflict as the clash of divergent stories centering on real or imagined wrong-doing and superiority, then we can take advantage of the ethical underpinning of story, in general, and of storytelling, in particular, to defuse these harmful narratives. Folktales and literary stories allow us to examine our attitudes and prejudices on a symbolic level, employing the ancient archetypes to focus on our similarities, rather than on our differences. Personal and family narratives, on the other hand, grant us the rare opportunity of seeing the world through the eyes of another. When combined with the insight of a gifted facilitator, all of these stories can begin to show us how to beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruninghooks—so that perhaps, one day soon, nation shall not lift up sword again nation, neither shall we learn war anymore. The International Storytelling Center is dedicated to promoting the use of storytelling for peace, to determining best practices in the field, to developing a training program for practitioners, and above all, to supporting those who do this vital work. How does it work? Selected stories for peace and conflict resolution Selected bibliography Storytellers and Story Educators for Peace Send comments or additions to carenina@bellsouth.net. These resources were developed with the invaluable assistance of Allison Cox. Return to Resources

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