Abstract
We tend to minimize the everyday stories we tell, but each and every one has its significance. Each indicates a manner or mode in which we endeavor to sort out our experiences so that our lives will become more pleasurable and meaningful. We depend on our stories just as we depend on the stories of other people. Yet, somehow, we never realize how powerful our storytelling is and how we can use storytelling more fruitfully to change and enrich our lives. Why is it that we have so much difficulty realizing the meanings of the stories we tell and receive? This is a question that raises a complex problem about how storytelling is managed and manipulated in contemporary North America and other western countries. I do not presume to have the answer to the question. Instead, I discuss a few of the problematical aspects of storytelling in Western societies and argue for a reintroduction of storytelling into schools at all levels and in all languages. In the final part of my essay, I present a few concrete examples from the works of Januzs Korczak, Gianni Rodari, and the Neighborhood Bridges Program in Minneapolis.
Recommended Citation
Zipes, Jack
(2018)
"Once Upon a Time: Changing the World through Storytelling,"
Storytelling, Self, Society: Vol. 13:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/storytelling/vol13/iss1/2