Transcriber: Stella Wenjun MIN
Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard Hello, everyone. I'm Amanda D'Annucci and I'm going
to be talking to you about storytelling, conflict resolution,
psychology and neuroscience. Did you know that
by telling someone a story, instead of spewing out
a mouthful of data, that you can engage a much larger
portion of their brain? The art of storytelling has psychological
and neurological basis that scientifically explains the natural
human predilection for narrative. A vast portion of a person's brain is activated during the listening to,
and telling of a story For instance, the amygdala hippocampus system, which is responsible
for preliminary encoding of episodic and autobiographic memories
is engaged; the left perisylvian region where language is created is engaged; and also, it has been proven
that the same sections of the brain lights up when the storyteller or the respective listener interacts. Quite simply, narrative engages the entire human brain, the entire human experience. If a string of word can affect a person
in such a profound way, how powerful can the art of story be? Stories can heal, stories can teach, stories can inspire, stories can enlighten stories can resolve. For my master thesis here at Gallatin, I'm exploring the power of story and relation to conflict resolution
and peace making. Story is an influential tool which
can mold the most obstinate of minds by means of appealing
to an individual's pathos. By using story as a communication tool, a pessimist understanding can be
made into a relatable situation. There's an ample evidence of storytelling
in a multitude of cultures around mankind. Individuals and societies of all sorts
intertwine narratives from oral folklore
and hunter-gatherer tribes to the numerous story writers
here in New York City, typing away their stories to become
movies, Broadway plays, television shows... According to Shephren, the stories that
we tell about our own and other's lives are a pervasive form of text, that which
we construct, interpret and share experience. We dream in narrative,
day dream in narrative anticipate hope, remember, despair gossip, learn, hate, and love, by narrative. We do all of these things through narrative. Storytelling has been used
to foster peace in a number of conflict-ridden areas
around the globe. So, why are stories
so fantastically successful in helping reduce conflict? Stories relate how
a series of events occur, whether fictitious or not. Additionally, a story does not only lift
this series of events, but it illustrates how these events interact. According to Van der Rohe, the goal of narrative comprehension is to construct a memory representation which the various individual parts
of the narrative are connected in meaningful ways. So believe it or not, there's a researcher named Michael Jackson,
at the university of Copenhagen, and he argues that storytelling offers
insight into the way people evaluate, discuss, and negotiate social
and ethical strategies for making communal life viable
in war as well as in peace. Specifically in Sierra Leone
where conflict is high. The study Jackson performed focuses
on storytelling with the Coronco people in Sierra Leone. Throughout his storytelling sessions, the stories told of great political and
social significance of the people involved. And during some of the stories,
the storyteller sometimes give the listeners a chance
to participate in their story. This participatory aspect of this approach
gives the listeners a chance to truly understand
the ethical implications of the politically charged story. Jackson proclaims that storytelling does not always work toward
a unified opinion of a situation. However, simply by its being
a shared accent of singing together, sitting together, speaking,
sharing various viewpoints, that makes possible
the momentary semblance of a fusion of desperate and often
undisclosed private experience. The study concludes that the mutual sharing of stories
make the participatants feel more inclined to be committed to their community. In addition, the very active participating
in a shared event and referring separate experiences
to a common source, promotes not necessarily a unified opinion but a strong bond within community ties. Storytelling promotes the concept
of civil society, free people discussing
their common issues, and it provides individuals
the opportunities for individual expression
in a group setting. A similar technique has been used
in studying a case of conflict between Israeli and
Palestinian Israeli students. Baron discusses the conflict
as very much rooted in how each side sees the other as perpetrator
and themselves as the victim. For the first few sessions,
the meeting of the groups spend significant amount of time fighting over which side was
or had been more victimized by the other. The storytelling approach used
in this workshop made it possible for the two groups to acknowledge
aspects of other stories that up until the workshop
had been unknown to them or difficult for them
to understand or accept. In her journal,
a Palestinian female student wrote: "When Israeli spoke about
her father's feelings of not being at home in Israel, I could identify with that feeling, for the first time I thought that
the Israelis are not only enemies, but have similar feelings to those I have." The stories that they told helped the group move beyond
this victim/perpetrator dynamic and into an arena of acceptance. Stories provide a pathway of connection for an individual or a community's values,
principals, hopes, fears and dreams that induces respect
and acceptance in the listener. Stories are vehicles that navigate
intellectual understanding but additionally the heart and
soul of the reader, the listener, the inner mind's eye. Thank you. (Applause)
