Restorying the Earth – Détails, épisodes et analyse

This is a cross-over episode with the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network's (SCCAN) podcast 1000 Better Stories.  This episode is hosted by SCCAN Storyweaver, Kaska Hempel, who interviews me about the Shifting the Narrative Project.

Shifting the Narrative is a research project I led at the University of Edinburgh from January 2022 until June 2022 engaging with over 50 storytellers who work with stories in relation to nature crises, nature connection, community and social change work, and environmental education.  In these six months we collected and synthesised the experiences and wisdom of this group of people to come up with some good practice recommendations for communicators more generally.

We found that dialogue is integral to traditional and performance storytelling and that most storytellers working in this area integrate some form of dialogue into their practice.  The research also highlighted that the flexibility of stories to interpretation is story's super-power, enabling listeners to meet story wherever they are.  Live performances create community at least for the duration of the event, while allowing diversity in interpretation.  These key findings challenge mainstream communication around nature crises, which emphasise reaching as many people as possible through broadcast forms of storytelling and ensuring clear messaging.

The University team consisted of myself (Alette Willis), Ramsey Affifi and Jule Hildmann in Education and Arno Verhoeven from the Edinburgh College of Art.

Our Community Partners:

• SCCAN https://sccan.scot/
• Traditional Arts and Cultures Scotland https://tracscotland.org/
• Architecture and Design Scotland.  https://www.ads.org.uk/

Our research was funded by the British Academy, which funds research to inform policy.  Our research contributed to their Net-Zero Policy Programme

More about the research project can be found on my blog: https://restoryingtheearth.com/stories/research-on-storytelling-ethics-and-social-transformation/shifting-the-narrative/

1000 Better Stories: https://scottishcommunitiesclimateactionnetwork.podbean.com/

COP26 is going on just up the road in Glasgow and the Scottish weather has turned cold and rainy.  I felt a need for something nourishing this week and figured that you might too, so I asked Australian storyteller Megan Ward to share a story of nature connection and healing with us.  Megan recently told this story live and in person at the New Economy Network Conference--Growing a Wellbeing Economy for Australia.

Megan writes: "My life has been influenced by a love of nature and a curious mind, with the need to understand and a thirst for knowledge. A scientist, yogini and naturalist, immersing myself in nature and witnessing the interconnectedness through the web of life, I now share the stories we have forgotten."

Megan Ward's website: http://manasayoga.com/

New Economy Network: https://www.neweconomy.org.au/

In this episode, I talk to award-winning Australian storyteller and workshop facilitator , Jenni Cargill-Strong.  We had a fascinating conversation covering a range of topics from enchantivism, to working with different types of stories for social change, telling stories in a country dealing with the legacies of colonialism, storytelling and place...and of course trees.  Trees seem to pop in to almost all of these podcast episodes. We love trees. Throughout our conversation, Jenni outlines stories that point audiences towards 'The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible' (the title of a book by Charles Eisenstein).

Jenni's Websites

Jenni's website: www.storytree.com.au with a list of storytelling resources https://storytree.com.au/stories-for-a-more-beautiful-world/storytelling-resources/

'Stories for a More Beautiful World' online workshop: https://storytree.com.au/stories-for-a-more-beautiful-world/ (one starts July 19, 2021)

The story ‘Lily and the Fig Tree’ and ‘The Mulberry Tree’ are recorded on Jenni's album 'The Story Tree and other nature tales' which you can listen to and buy here: https://storytree.bandcamp.com/album/the-story-tree-and-other-nature-tales

Jenni's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQP1tbNivZmFpB_KOv68-Hg

Other Websites mentioned

Enchantivism and Dr Chalquist https://chalquist.com/

Charles Eisenstein https://charleseisenstein.org/

Michael Meade retells the Native American story ‘Black Dog and Weaving Woman’ in his book 'Why the World Never Ends'; explains it to Russel Brandt here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VaEKZRa1rQ and shares it on his podcast here: ‘Living Myth’ Podcast: ‘Making the Earth’, Episode 172 (paywall)

Books mentioned

‘Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants’ by Robin  Wall Kimmerer. I’ve been told the audiobook read by Kimmerer is  fantastic as she has a great voice and hearing her read the text adds meaning to it.

Charles Eisenstein, ‘Climate: A New Story’ and 'The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible'

'Favourite Folktales from around the World' Yolen, Jane (Ed)

Jenni's story ‘The Mulberry Tree’ is in Susan Perrow's ‘Stories to Light the Night: A Grief and Loss Collection for Children, Families and Communities’ http://susanperrow.com/

In this episode, I caught up with Dawne McFarlane, Artistic Director of the 2021 Toronto Storytelling Festival.  Dawne discusses how festivals  provide leadership in promoting a global culture of respect and gratitude through the art of storytelling.  Festivals are one of the places where diverse people meet up and can find common ground.  Dawne shares how she approached organising a rich and diverse festival around the theme of 'Listening to the Voices of Nature' during a time of lockdown.  Listening, she argues, is a important as speaking in the art of storytelling.  Indigenous artists were at the heart of this festival and Dawne shares the role that traditional tales and elders can play in helping the world to transform to a more holistic worldview.

Dawne shares an Irish story, “The Daughter of the Fairy Queen,” from Told by the Peat Fire, stories by Sibylle Alexander, Hawthorn Press.

You can find the Toronto Storytelling Festival here: https://torontostorytellingfestival.ca/2021/

Dawne's page is here: https://www.dawnemcfarlane.ca/

Some of Kahontakwas Diane Longboat's work can be found here: https://www.soulofthemother.org/

Diane Beresford-Kroeger's bioplan can be found here:  https://dianaberesford-kroeger.com/

In this episode, I speak to permaculture educator Karen Noon. Karen originally hails from South Africa, but now lives on a small farm in Brittany, France.  Karen comes from a corporate background, but ten years ago that all changed.  Today I speak with Karen about the importance of personal storytelling in transformative education and how she sees permaculture as a way of re-storying ourselves, our gardens and our world.  She shares her 'river of life' story and the event in her life that led her to put people's voices at the heart of everything she does.  She outlines how to do the river of life as a personal exercise or with learners.

Karen runs Afrinoon Permaculture, where you can find out more about her, her farm and her courses: http://www.afrinoonpermaculture.org/

Karen mentions the Permaculture Association, which oversees permaculture education in the UK.  It can be found here: https://www.permaculture.org.uk/

A version of the River of Life exercise can be found here, if you'd like to give it a try yourself: https://pubs.iied.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/migrate/G02828.pdf

photo credit to Wes Meadows

Join me for an inspiring chat with Judith Black, storyteller and climate activist, who has brought folktales into the belly of her State Legislature!  Judith has been telling stories for 35 years.  Five years ago, realising the full scale of the climate disaster we are facing, Judith dedicated herself and her storytelling skills to working on these issues.  In our chat, she shares three ways of working with story: (1) a wake up call to responsibility; (2) a warning and education; (3) modelling strategies for change.  She suggests a number of stories that fit these three categories and tells three: Spider and the Palm Nut Tree, Three Brahmans and a Tiger, The Giant Turnip.  Stories are powerful, she argues, because they keep our gates of perception open.

Judith has done a Tedx talk on Storytelling and Climate Disruption and Hope: An Antidote to Despair: Storytelling and Climate Disruption

On her website, she generously shares her wisdom on crafting environmental stories from science:

http://storiesalive.com/an-integrated-life-storytelling-climate-disruption-1/

She makes reference to Margaret Read MacDonald's Earth Care: World Folktales to Talk About.

In this episode I talk to Svend-Erik Engh, a Danish storyteller, about plans to bring a Folkehøjskole ('folk high school') to Scotland. In our conversation, Svend-Erik shares the origins of Folkehøjskole in Denmark, the role of mythology in learning and the impact this form of education has on students and society.  There is some master storytelling here as well, as Svend-Erik shares with us the myth of Odin hanging from Yggdrasil, the sacred world tree.

While Svend-Erik and his team plan to offer an in-person, residential Folkehøjskole sometime in the future, they will be offering a 'taster' Folkehøjskole, with a focus on storytelling, online for three weeks beginning in July 2021.  This programme is open to anyone, anywhere.

You can find out more about Svend-Erik Engh (including how to contact him) here: https://svenderikengh.com/

You can find out more about the Scottish Folkehøjskole here: giantsheart.org

(Credit for photo of Svend-Erik Engh to Alice Fernbank)

In this episode, I share one of the first stories that I ever learned to tell: 'Truth and Story'.  This tale is one that I use often when working with researchers, scientists and students.  It is a version of the old Jewish tale by the same name.  However, this version is one that I learned from the Argentinian-Canadian storyteller Marta Singh.  Marta will be performing at this year's Beyond the Border Storytelling Festival in Wales (2-4 July 2021).

Beyond the Border: https://beyondtheborder.com/

Marta Singh: https://www.ottawastorytellers.ca/marta-singh

In this episode, I speak to Sian Cornelius, storyteller, author and harpist, about being in the Christchurch Earthquake of 2011 and how that experience led her to become passionate about the power of story to transform ourselves and our communities after trauma.  Her book, Transition Girl, shares the story of this part of Sian's life.  She has also published Gower Folk Tales, a collection of traditional stories from the Gower peninsula in Wales, where she lives off-grid in a lovely solar-powered wooden cabin in the woods.

You can find out more about Sian, her books and her storytelling adventures at www.heartofabard.com and follow her on instagram @heartofabard.

We are on the eve of COP26 here in Scotland, and today I am joined by Emmanuela Yogolelo from Manchester who is going to talk to me about her work with story and climate justice.  Emmanuela is a well known singer and musician known for her voice, harmonies, unique melodies and now storytelling and interactive performances.  Her music draws on her cultural roots in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and she has been instrumental in co-developing 'Amani Creatives' in Manchester, which nourishes, celebrates and promotes African arts and culture and African artists in the city and beyond.

Emmanuela has been commissioned by HOME arts centre in Manchester and Community Arts North West to put together an interactive live performance which will debut this Friday, October 29th (2021).  In this piece she will explore climate justice activism through a range of art forms including music and storytelling.  Hello, Emmanuela and welcome to the Restorying the Earth Podcast.

Emmanuela would really like to hear from others working in the area of arts and climate justice.  She is open to feedback, collaborations and more.  Please get in touch with her through her website.

Emmanuela shares a teaser from her upcoming performance, Tales from the Congo Basin.  If you are in the Manchester area, you can catch this performance on Friday the 29th of October at HOME.  More information and tickets here: https://www.creativetourist.com/event/tales-from-the-congo-basin-at-home/

Emmanuela's website, with videos and music recordings can be found here:

https://emmanuelayogolelo.com/about/

Amani Creatives

https://www.amanicreatives.co.uk/