Storytelling is simply the art of delivering information to someone by telling a story with different agendas. Some people tell stories to teach the cultural norms of a specific group while others narrate stories to teach values and ethics to promote ethical conduct. It is through this way that knowledge is passed from one person to another. The story revolves around generations. Storytelling comes in various forms during delivery for instance, as oral traditions, which is most common and told through word of mouth, legends which narrate on essential people that should be celebrated for their work and actions. The purpose of this research paper is to cover on why storytelling is an effective mechanism for sharing information and personal influence from the storytelling.
Storytelling acts as a very effective mechanism when it comes to sharing information due to various reasons. Storytelling is mainly preferred because it influences memorability at a high rate compared to other forms. It engages the audience through facial expressions and body movements. Moreover, storytelling is very persuasive and can make a drug addict or a criminal turn on a new leaf. That is because the influence is sufficient to make a person deliver a sound decision while in a similar situation (Bietti, Tilston, & Bangerter, 2019).
In White like me by Tim Wise, his focus is on racism and the impact on the American people. He explores how racism affects the decision of white people using his life as an example. According to him, racism and privileges are highly associated together as the white people have more rights compared to the blacks when it comes to opportunities. Racism runs in all directions for the Americans from employment to the education system and the court of law as well (Trepagnier, 2017). Personally, through storytelling, Wise attempts to explain to the audience that racism and these privileges are real and therefore pose a lot of threat when it comes to social change. Furthermore, it affects the general wellness of a person and influences behavior as well. However, concerning this, he also points out that the past is not the future and it can be fixed through resistance to racism.
The first knowledge that people should know is that racism is a problem, and it started centuries ago up to now. Wise defines the history of racism, how it occurs today by narrating on the journey of discrimination. He goes on by pointing out the facts behind racism and some of the problems that still happen because of racism. Rocha, (2019). “Environmental Racism and Privileged Consumerism.”
On the diversity and dialogue, Manswell tackles on belonging where she goes on and says that instead of people trying to measure pertaining, they should instead do better and try to seek out on tangible things that do not belong and find a way to get rid of them. During her speech, Sandra Upton stated that for there to be change, there must be commitment and a lot of hard work (Hewitt, Flett, & Mikail, 2017). Therefore, there must be someone willing to give up on something to get another. According to her, the main challenge is the willingness to make a commitment and be ready to lose something to uplift another.
Summary, racism has causes mistreatment of people and leading to others being enslaved. Columbus Day was started by the indigenous people who were enslaved and to them; they believed that even if the past cannot be changed, the future could be improved. The more profound truth is that up to today, racism still occurs, and the influence has a wide range of consequences.
References
Bietti, L. M., Tilston, O., & Bangerter, A. (2019). Storytelling as an adaptive collective sensemaking. Topics in cognitive science, 11(4), 710-732.
Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G. L., & Mikail, S. F. (2017). Perfectionism: A relational approach to conceptualization, assessment, and treatment. Guilford Publications.
Rocha, J. (2019). Environmental Racism and Privileged Consumerism. Philosophy in the Contemporary World, 25(1), 5-20.
Trepagnier, B. (2017). Silent racism: How well-meaning white people perpetuate the racial divide. Routledge.