LibGuides: CAP 203 The Power of Storytelling: Unit 1: Origins and Fundamentals of Storytelling

Week 1: Lascaux Cave paintings

What is a story? Why do we tell stories?

The need to express ourselves as humans is as old as the species itself. Throughout history, we have depicted images of the real, or imagined world on stones, wood, walls, or animal hides to express who we are, how we feel and think. These forms of expression tell our story as humans, stories of how we lived, our environment, and of events of happiness and challenges. In other words, human expression leaves a trace of our evolution across time and cultures. The sophistication of expression has evolved and changed over time. So, for instance, is the capacity to write and use a more complex alphabet fairly recent. For example, the Latin alphabet used in English today, is ca. 2500 years old. Every time we encounter an image or a stretch of text, we apply innate skills to process what we see or read. We immediately look for a logical sequence, we decipher words, sentences, lines, figures, and colors to make sense of what we experience through media of human expression. These skills involve the ability to predict, infer and hypothesize. We constantly engage in these activities, often without “thinking.” In the upcoming text about the cave paintings in Lascaux the author is doing exactly that. The author is inferring, reflecting, and hypothesizing based on what he believes may be one of the purposes of the cave paintings. What do you infer and conclude when looking at them?

The need for human expression
Click this link (or the link above) to read an article about Rock art (also known as parietal art). Then brainstorm (to prepare for in-class discussions and exercises):

Why do we tell stories in your opinion?
What is the purpose of writing? Think: What do we communicate through writing? Go over your suggestions.
1. Which aspects of storytelling and writing do you think are the most prevalent in our society today? Is this a positive or negative development? Justify your thinking with an example.
Look at the cave paintings in Lascaux.
1. What do you see?
2. Where would you find these animals? In nature? On a farm?
3. How do you feel looking at the picture? Is it a positive or negative feeling, and if so,
4. why?
5. Why would a person paint these animals in a cave?
6. Observe the objects and the composition in the image below. Which objects do you see, which story do you think is being told and why?
7. Which other questions do you have when looking at the picture?
Compare your ideas about the cave paintings to your earlier thoughts about writing. Which aspects of writing are embedded in these images? Think big and hypothesize!
Read this quotation and reflect: “Humanity has a problem living in the now. If we are not lost in our memories of the past, we are fantasizing about what the future might bring.” (Chatterton, Steve, 2017)
1. Do you recognize yourself in this quote? What do you think more about, the past, or the future?
2. What do you think? Are the cave paintings more about the past or the future?

Photo licensed by Mike Beauregard- https://www.flickr.com/photos/31856336@N03/35992500056/ under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license

What the Lascaux Cave Paintings Tell Us About the Nature of Human Desire by Steve Chatterton
Click here (or the link above) to read the entire article. Then, reflect on the text & questions posed below:

The author is looking for similarities, not differences between us and the humans who painted the walls in the cave. He is hypothesizing that this is what the cave paintings are expressing. To verify his thinking, he is using clues that help him answer the questions about the subject matter. In this case: Why did they paint the images in the cave? Since he cannot ask these people or any other person who descends from this group of humans, he tries to answer this question by inferring from what he sees in the cave. Inferring is a way of indirectly drawing a conclusion about a circumstance or situation. If you enter a room without people and all you find is blood on the floor, you infer that something bad has happened, but you do not know for sure. This is the situation in the cave and the situation for many other researchers. Aside from inferred ideas about the cave, there are also facts. These are easier to detect. How do we determine whether something is a fact or just an assumption? ○ When we infer, we use modifying words and expressions such as: may be, could, would and sometimes should. You also find adverbs: probably, possibly, perhaps and maybe. ○ So, what about facts? Facts are expressed through language that does not invite doubts or questions. This is also how you write general statements. The caves were found by teenagers. Lascaux is a town in France.

1. What in your own words, is the conclusion by the author? Do you agree with the conclusion of the author? What are some other interpretations mentioned in the text? Which interpretation do you agree with?

2. Based on today’s society, which images would we put on the walls of a cave today following his idea of daydreaming about the future? Write down your thoughts in at least seven sentences.

Week 1:

Journal Assignment: Write how you think your story relates to the cave paintings and why you think it will endure the generations.
Capstone Assignment: Submit a video of you telling a story (no more than 2 minutes) that demonstrates risk-taking and courage (where you or someone you know has the guts to do something, or overcome an obstacle).

Week 2: Dissecting the beginnings

The 1000- and one-nights storyteller: Arabian Nights
In large parts of the world, “Thousand and One Night” (Alf Laylah wa-Laylah) is a familiar title. In fact, considering its age and spread across continents, Sheherazade, the young female storyteller, might be one of the most famous storytellers of all times. And she is not just telling stories to entertain, she is telling them to stay alive. In short, Scheherazade is one of the longest surviving narrators that help preserve rich cultural traditions, wisdom, and moral values. She is a representative of the traditional Arab storyteller, the Hakawati, a carrier of sagas, tales and myths that have traveled through vast areas of the Middle East for centuries. The collection of tales in “Arabian Nights” is one of the most significant examples of stories which move across time and expansive geographic areas and with them their cultural capital, ideas, and perceptions of the world. The stories told in “Thousand and One Night” originate from as far as China and India and can be traced back to Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Northern Africa. The stories arrived in the West in the 18th century and their French and English translations came to form the base for its dissemination and translations in Europe, the United States and beyond.

I want to know more: For a critical reflection on the inherited Western reception of “Thousand and One Night” pleasego to https://electricliterature.com/7-arab-and-arab-diasporic-novels-about-storytellers/

The Hunchback's Tale (Arabian Nights)
Continue Reading on ProjectGutenberg.org. Here's an excerpt to start you off: It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there dwelt during times of yore, and years and ages long gone before, in a certain city of China, a Tailor who was an open handed man that loved pleasuring and merry making; and who was wont, he and his wife, to solace themselves from time to time with public diversions and amusements. One day they went out with the first of the light and were returning in the evening when they fell in with a Hunchback, whose semblance would draw a laugh from care and dispel the horrors of despair. So they went up to enjoy looking at him and invited him to go home with them and converse and carouse with them that night. He consented and accompanied them afoot to their home; whereupon the Tailor fared forth to the bazar (night having just set in) and bought a fried fish and bread and lemons and dry sweetmeats for dessert; and set the victuals before the Hunchback and they ate. Presently the Tailor's wife took a great fid of fish and gave it in a gobbet to the Gobbo, stopping his mouth with her hand and saying, "By Allah, thou must down with it at a single gulp; and I will not give thee time to chew it." So he bolted it; but therein was a stiff bone which stuck in his gullet and, his hour being come, he died.—And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her permitted say.

Aesop’s Fables – The Aesopica

Why tell stories using animals? Well, for one thing we believe we are superior to animals and have nothing to learn from them. Secondly, we normally do not come across a talking fox or frog. This means we have no reference to such a creature being wiser or dumber than ourselves. We also do not think of arguing against a bird or a donkey. Therefore, it is easy to let animals tell stories that teach us about our morals and behavioral weaknesses. This is what Aesop’s fables do.

Aesop is supposed to have been a slave in ancient Greece who lived some time between 620-560 BCE. However, it is very possible that the figure of Aesop is legendary and never existed. Yet, his name represents another famous storyteller whose tales have survived for over two millennia and whose language and proverbs are still in use today. So, for example are expressions like “sour grapes” and “deeds speak louder than words” common in mainstream media and interpersonal communications. Today, research suggests that the fables might have traveled over Mesopotamia and Egypt to Greece and are not originally from the European continent. However, the stories survived because they were preserved by authors and historians in ancient Greece and Rome. Their short poignant moral lessons have played a role in society and education until our present time. What makes these stories so attractive and what makes their themes still relevant today?

I want to know more: For a deeper understanding of history and purpose of the fables watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBY3RUx4F1U

Read The Frogs Desiring a King (Aesop's Fables), from Project Gutenberg (below)
The Frogs were living as happy as could be in a marshy swamp that just suited them; they went splashing about caring for nobody and nobody troubling with them. But some of them thought that this was not right, that they should have a king and a proper constitution, so they determined to send up a petition to Jove to give them what they wanted. “Mighty Jove,” they cried, “send unto us a king that will rule over us and keep us in order.” Jove laughed at their croaking, and threw down into the swamp a huge Log, which came down splashing into the swamp. The Frogs were frightened out of their lives by the commotion made in their midst, and all rushed to the bank to look at the horrible monster; but after a time, seeing that it did not move, one or two of the boldest of them ventured out towards the Log, and even dared to touch it; still it did not move. Then the greatest hero of the Frogs jumped upon the Log and commenced dancing up and down upon it, thereupon all the Frogs came and did the same; and for some time the Frogs went about their business every day without taking the slightest notice of their new King Log lying in their midst. But this did not suit them, so they sent another petition to Jove, and said to him, “We want a real king; one that will really rule over us.” Now this made Jove angry, so he sent among them a big Stork that soon set to work gobbling them all up. Then the Frogs repented when too late.

Better no rule than cruel rule.

The Garden of Eden The five books of Moses make up parts of the Old Testament of the Bible. The books of Moses also constitute the Torah, the Jewish Bible, which precedes the New Testament by at least six hundred years and the Koran by ca. thousand years. It is in the book Genesis 2-3 that Moses tells the story of the “Garden of Eden” (Hebrew Gan Elohim) the paradise in which Adam and Eve, the first humans, reside. Here, God makes a simple rule. They are not allowed to eat from the “Tree of Knowledge,” also referred to as Tree of Life, or they will be banned from paradise. In the garden lives a snake who tempts Eve and seduces her and Adam to pick the apples from the forbidden tree. God discovers their misbehavior and as a punishment, they are driven out of paradise. Similar to Pandora’s tale, we are again told the story of temptation and human weakness as an explanation for misery and evil on earth. Life on earth, its trials and struggles, are attributed to a human flaw, a sinful behavior that we have brought upon ourselves. Both stories condemn the human capacity for free will, self-determination and reasoning. Instead, by breaking a rule and eating from the “Tree of Knowledge”, humans have entered a state of eternal misery. What has made this story survive for close to three thousand years?

I want to know more: https://www.worldhistory.org/Garden_of_Eden/

Read The Garden of Eden (Abrahamic Religions) from Project Gutenberg (below)
THIS is the oldest story in the world. It began to be told when children began to ask questions; and that was very long ago. The children said, “Where did everything come from? Who made the hills and the sea? Who made the sun and the stars?” And their fathers and mothers answered as best they could.

In our time, after long study of the earth, there are wise men who know more about these things than anybody knew when the world was young. They ask the earth itself, and tell us what the earth says. But the oldest story is still the best, because it tells us that the world was made by God. And that is what we want to know.

In the beginning of all beginnings, so the story goes, the world was a wide sea without a shore. Up and down, and here and there, and all across, nothing could be seen but water. And it was all dark, like the ocean at night when there is no moon. And God said, “Let there be light!” And day appeared. And God made the sky; and under the sky, in the new light of day, in the midst of the vast waters, He made the land; and grass began to grow upon it, and then trees, with leaves and fruit.

Then in the sky, the sun began to shine by day, and the moon and stars by night. And in the sea, first little fishes and then big ones, began to swim; and in the air, the birds began to fly; and on the land, all kinds of living things began to move about, lions in the thick woods, sheep in the fields, cows in the pastures. And at last, as best of all, God made man; and to the first man He said, “Behold, the new earth and all that is in it. It is yours. Here you are to live, and over all these living things you are to rule.”

Thus the world and man came into being. The story says that God did all this in six days, but the earth says that every one of these six days was millions of years long. Very, very slowly, but no less wonderfully, was the great world made.

“But,” the children said, “if God, our Heavenly Father, made the world, how came there to be briers and brambles? Why is the ground so stony? and why do men have to work so hard to make things grow? and why have pain and sickness and sin and death come in to spoil the world?”

In the beginning of beginnings, said their fathers and mothers,—and this is the next oldest story,—the earth was a mighty plain, on which no rain had fallen since the first hour of time, but a mist blew in from the sea and watered the ground. Out of this damp earth, God made a man, body and legs and arms and head; and when the man was made, God breathed upon him, and, behold, the man lived. The body of earth was changed to flesh and blood, and the man opened his eyes, and rose up and began to walk and speak.

And God planted the Garden of Eden for the man to live in, with great shady trees, and a river singing as it flowed between its flowery banks. Then God brought to the man all the beasts and birds, and the man gave each a name, and they played together in the sunny fields.

But still the man was very lonely. Then God put the man to sleep, and while he slept God took out one of the man’s ribs and of it made a woman. And the man waked and saw the woman, and he took her by the hand, and was very glad. The man’s name was Adam, and the woman’s name was Eve.

Now, God had showed Adam two trees of the Garden. One was a Tree of Life: whoever ate of the fruit of it would live forever. The other was a Tree of Knowledge: whoever ate of the fruit of it would know both good and evil. And God had said that these trees must not be touched. But one time, as Mother Eve was walking in the pleasant shadow of the Tree of Knowledge, she saw a serpent. This, you understand, was long ago, when strange things happened as they do in fairy stories. All the animals were friendly and knew how to talk. So Eve was not afraid, nor was she surprised to hear the serpent speak.

“Eve,” he said, coiling his glittering tail about the tree, “this is good fruit; why do you never taste it?”

“Serpent,” said Eve, “this is forbidden fruit. God has told us not to touch it.”

“But see,” replied the serpent, winking his bright eyes, “see how it shines among the leaves. Surely such fair fruit can do no harm. Indeed, a little taste will make you the wisest woman in the world!”

And foolish Eve listened and was tempted. She looked again at the bright and luscious fruit, and took of it and ate it, and gave to Adam and he ate it.

Then trouble came. That is what always follows disobedience. Adam and Eve began to consider what they had done, and they were sorry and afraid. Now, every day, in the Garden of Eden, God used to come, as the evening shadows lengthened, and walk among the trees in the cool of the twilight; but that day, Adam and Eve hid themselves. So God called, “Adam, Eve, where are you? Why do you hide yourselves? Have you eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree?”

And Adam came and said, “It was Eve’s fault: she gave it to me.” And Eve said, “It was the serpent’s fault: he tempted me.” As for the serpent, there was nobody else upon whom he could cast the blame.

So God said that the serpent and all serpents after him should crawl upon the ground. He sent Adam and Eve out of the garden, and, at the gate, to keep them from coming back, he set angels with flaming swords. Thus the good world was spoiled. Outside the garden gate, the earth was thick with briers and brambles. (text from Project Gutenberg)
Pandora's Box
Myth and legend are two powerful aspects of storytelling. Mythology often makes up the foundation of culture and religion, and inherited mythological stories overlap with both religious traditions and modern forms of literature. One example is the Lady of Guadeloupe, or La Morenita Tonanzin. Hers is the story of an Aztec princess in Mexico who appears as Virgin Mary in front of a young Aztec boy. She becomes a saint after performing a miracle in front of a Christian bishop. Her story lives on today and is celebrated annually in Mexico. The story of Pandora’s Box, on the other hand, originates from Ancient Greece with great allegorical significance. Pandora, the first woman, is created by the god Zeus. He gives her a jar which she is not supposed to open. However, Pandora is overcome with curiosity and opens the jar. All misery and evil kept under the lid now spill out over the earth. Only “hope” remains inside the jar.
Pandora’s story has in part survived through the works of the Greek writer Hesiod and the phrase “to open Pandora’s box” is a common allegory for releasing hidden evils and prediction of catastrophe.

Week 2:

Journal Assignment: Pick one trait of a character in one of the stories and discuss why you think it’s important.
Capstone Assignment: Select one story and modernize it– make it about you. Retell the story as your own.

Week 3: Storytelling narrative tools

As we have seen, stories fulfill similar purposes across cultural boundaries and geographic regions. They reflect common human experience by engaging, inspiring and reflecting human needs, values, and behaviors. They harbor and preserve human emotions and actions, extraordinary events, and ways of resolving conflict, and help form a shared tapestry of legacy in specific cultures and communities. What tools are needed to create a story that captures the reader’s interest and leaves a lasting impression? In general, a “story” is centered around an event. It has a sequence, one or more characters and takes place in a certain time and place. We can ask: What is it about (theme)? Or What happened (special event)?

However, the way a story is conveyed to the reader – its composition, organization, and delivery - is what we refer to as narrative discourse, or simply the “the narrative.” To understand the narrative structure of a story, we need to examine the tools that make up its discourse. You can think of it as the composition of a painting. The image of a horse is familiar to most people. However, the way the horse is portrayed in a painting renders it a different quality depending on its form, colors, position, and relationship to other objects. In short, a horse in a painting may carry different meanings depending on its context and relationships to other objects. Another important word to remember is the idea of representation. A horse is mostly seen as a strong and useful animal. However, the horse can represent various aspects of a culture, its history, myth, values, or belief systems. For example, in the United States, the horse has come to represent the legend of the West from the perspective of European settlers. Another part of the world may paint a different picture of a horse which tells a different story.

Narrative discourse is like a painting in that it is an organized composition of plot, and characters told in a specific time and place from a specific point of view or perspective. Together, these elements constitute relationships between events and characters who behave and act within a specific framework of the plot line. This is the context in which the story takes place. Within this context, the author uses a variety of tools to deliver the story to the reader. These are the main tools of narrative discourse:

Narrator point of view: third person, first person
Story sequence/ chronological plot line: beginning/ exposition; middle/ climax/ peak; end/
Character roles and representations: naïve, flawed, heroic, inquisitive, innovative, courageous, diplomatic, aggressor, peacemaker, risk-taker, traitor, turn coat, trickster, intrigant.
Narrative/ rhetorical modes: narration, description, explanation, comment, dialogue, monologue, internal monologue.

Read this chapter on Narration (from OpenBook Publishers)
The storyworld only comes to exist because someone (a narrator) tells a story to someone else (a narratee). This is what we call narration, a communicative act that does not happen in the storyworld or at the level of the story. Narration is part of discourse, which constitutes the second level in our semiotic model of narrative. Continue Reading the Rest of this Article.

The Tools of Narrative Discourse
Read the attached powerpoint.
In-Class Exercise
The attached document will be an in-class exercise this week. Please take a moment to look at the document.

Week 3:

Journal Assignment: Is there a lesson in your story? What do you take away from your story? Think: moral values, flaws, survival, happiness etc.
Capstone Assignment: Write down a story you’ve heard from your family or other elders that you think will survive.

Week 4: How does being a good storyteller benefit us?

When do you find yourself telling stories? When you're with friends and family? Do you read to children (your children, or maybe your siblings or other family & friends' children)? How do you think those storytelling skills translate to your career? Read the below articles and watch the TED talk, and think about these questions:

- What stories do I have about how I've overcome obstacles, juggled multiple tasks, led a group or a project, been really reliable?

- What other stories do I have that show how I'm the kind of person who matches the job I want to have?

- How can I use storytelling in a job interview to be relatable, memorable and authentic? What other traits do I want to show off in a job interview, and how can I use storytelling to show off those traits?

How (and Why) Storytelling Is a Necessary Job Skill
"When we think of storytelling, we often think of writers and journalists. After all, what use would a stock broker or engineer have for stories? Today, storytelling is one of our most important forms of communication. We need it to share our perspective, negotiate, and create empathy." Continue Reading this Article- https://globisinsights.com/career-skills/communication/storytelling-necessary-job-skill/
The Key to Landing Your Next Job? Storytelling.
"Today’s workforce is hyper-competitive. It’s hard to stand out, and if you’re hunting for a job, you need strategies to appear more credible, authentic, and memorable than your peers.
What’s the best approach?" Continue Reading this Article-- https://hbr.org/2021/05/the-key-to-landing-your-next-job-storytelling

Week 4:

Journal Assignment: What does the word creative mean to you? What do you need in order to be creative?
Capstone Assignment: Write a story about one of your past experiences that shows how you’re a good match for the professional future you envision for yourself.

Week 5: Who tells stories?

"There is a word, an Igbo word, that I think about whenever I think about the power structures of the world, and it is “nkali.” It's a noun that loosely translates to “to be greater than another.” Like our economic and political worlds, stories too are defined by the principle of nkali: How they are told, who tells them, when they're told, how many stories are told, are really dependent on power." -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Watch Adichie's TED Talk- The Danger of a Single Story, and then read the entire article below, about Storytelling traditions in West African Communities.

Then, reflect on who gets to tell stories. Whose voices are heard? How some voices find a platform for disseminating their stories to wide audiences? What about the stories that are not part of the dominant narrative?

Next, read "Storytelling traditions across the world: West Africa"
"For centuries, the history, beliefs and folklore of West African communities have been kept alive through the tradition of music and storytelling. Music plays a key role in West Africans’ daily lives for dance, healing, storytelling and religious practice.

A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet or musician. The griot is often seen as a leader due to his or her position as an advisor to royal personages. As a result of the former of these two functions, he or she is sometimes called a bard. Griots originated in the 13th century in the Mande empire of Mali. For centuries, they have told and retold the history of the empire, keeping their stories and traditions alive."

Continue reading-- https://allgoodtales.com/storytelling-traditions-across-world-west-africa/

Next, read the following passage:

Stories are everywhere. They make up a large part of human communication. Even the shortest tale as in “ I stumbled and fell on my way to school” is a story, a unicorn resting in his pen is a story. However, as Adiche points out, whose stories are told? How are they told and how are they distributed? As we have seen, oral stories travel over vast geographic areas and time. However, like the grout in West Africa, the storyteller often carries an important voice and has a high status in society. Even Scheherazade, although a victim, stays alive because she claims the status of a wondrous storyteller. In other words, she has power. The storyteller becomes part of the sociocultural fabric of society and often reflects its political power structures. Similarly, a person telling stories in the marketplace represents culture in a certain time and place. The same applies to a short news story, or a complex novel written by a renowned author.

Another principal factor in the exclusion or inclusion of stories is language. In which language is a story told? Who is excluded and who gets to have impact and voice in the dissemination of tales, events, and sentiments within a society? This question has been pursued in multilingual countries where different languages are in use. So, for instance, do many Africans countries use multiple vernaculars in their day-to-day lives. However, usually only one language, such as French, English, or Swahili dominates in the educational and mainstream media institutions.

An astonishing example of the relationships between story, language and power structures is the Bible itself. For a millennium, the bible was only available in Greek or Latin, yet the church held millions of people in a firm grip. How was it possible to maintain power over so many while the text itself was inaccessible? In other words, the church told the story about the Bible for centuries while the stories themselves were sealed off by means of a language nobody understood. As we can see, the impact of stories depends on factors that exist outside of stories. How does this really work?

Let us look at Adiche’s idea of a single story in relation to media and its impact on society. First, it is important to consider how the role of journalists has evolved over time. A couple of decades ago, journalists reported the news to the public. At some point, the news report changed to a story. The reporting journalist had now become a storyteller. When we examine narratives in the news, “single stories” are abundant. Social and political issues, such as crime, drugs, and recently migration are often reported through a one-dimensional lens. Powerful multimodal bundles of visual imagery, voice, language, and sounds melt together to form one single message: here is a problem and here are the actors who represent this problem. This is where the critical reading of narrative discourse becomes essential. Discourse always involves two actors: the producer and the receiver. The receiver carries individual representations of knowledge and processes a text using mental models, acquired schemata and ethical values internalized in a specific sociocultural context. Therefore, narrative discourse always depends on the receiver and its context. For example, telling a story about street crime in the Amazonas would have a different effect than in a U.S city. Therefore, shared representations of knowledge and sociocultural values play a large part in storytelling in the media. Which group(s) are targeted, who is the audience? Which impact is intended by the author?

References

Kirsten Forkert, Federico Oliveri. How Media and Conflicts Make Migrants. 1st ed., Manchester University Press, 2020, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv10h9g34

Hogan, Patrick Colm. Narrative Discourse : Authors and Narrators in Literature, Film, and Art. Ohio State University Press, 2013.

VAN DIJK, TEUN A. “Discourse and Manipulation.” Discourse & Society, vol. 17, no. 3, 2006, pp. 359–83, https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926506060250

VAN DIJK, TEUN A. “Ideology and Discourse Analysis.” Journal of Political Ideologies, vol. 11, no. 2, 2006, pp. 115–40, https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310600687908

Week 5 Reflection/ In-Class Activity
Read the attached document and think about your responses. This is the in-class activity for week 5.

Week 5:

Journal Assignment: What stories (or phrases or beliefs) about others have you heard that you now realize are single stories?
Capstone Assignment: Turn your freewriting into a story that represents your voice, your culture, and experience.