Share to Connect: storytelling and visual language as a tool for system intervention
Storytelling as a tool for system intervention within the PICS project. What is this PICS project? Well - in brief - it’s a project in which we, the partners, have developed a method which aims at the behavioural change of young people in order to establish more respectful, resilient and peaceful communities. In this method we make use of storytelling techniques and picture language. In other words: PICS aims to change the system by means of storytelling techniques supported by picture language. The next speaker will shed a light on the ‘picture language’ part; I would like to introduce you to storytelling; in general and focused on the use in this project. But before doing so, I’d like to say something about ‘the system’ we aim to change.
In our urban society - as in almost all urban societies in Europe - youth from various backgrounds - religious, ethnic or cultural - live together. And let's not forget to mention the differences in economic terms; the haves and the have nots. This kind of society is referred to as a heterogeneous society. And without wanting to be too negative, these kind of societies are at risk of conflict.
Let me explain this ... I am not referring to conflict as in war zones, but to conflict that endangers the peace in a society like the one we are living in. Not all conflicts endanger this peace; conflicts are actually part of our society. As a former drama-student I am fully aware that my vocation would not exist without it and I even dare to say that life does not exist without conflict, whether inner and outer. But conflict becomes a danger when we do not know how to handle it. Or, as Bart Brandsma states in his publication Inside Polarisation: Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the way we deal with a series of conflicts in a constructive way.