If we think of the system as layers of soil, then narrative (the lens through which we see the world) is the water that flows through it. 

We need to reach a person or institution before we can create messages that get them to help shift the system. We also need to understand that person or institution before we navigate toward them.

Surprisingly, the first step to knowing an audience is to understand the narratives and deep narratives that shape and feed the system that they live within.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Do not confuse the system narrative (what we all experience) with the values of those in power or those who can influence the powerful. We will focus on values in Chapter 14.

​

​

​

​

​

​

To explain how narratives work, we have used a water chart:​​​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​​​​

​

Worldviews and narratives shift during a crisis. It is not one single story but multiple stories told by different people, the media, the social media, the govt, the civil society, your family members, that confirm narratives or counter-narratives and shape our worldview. 

​

Narratives define how people believe and act. We can provide a lot of facts and information, but the narratives will ultimately shape how this information is understood and the path of change. For example, if you grew up with the narrative that hard work leads to success (like ‘the American Dream’) then this becomes common sense and you are going to work hard. It becomes difficult for you to step back from or dismantle that narrative, even with lots of facts and information that might disprove this belief. 

​

Framing: The choices we make in how to present ideas (consciously or unconsciously) that shape how people think, feel and act, usually geared towards long term shifts.’

​

We frame ideas using the following building blocks:

​

• Deep Narrative: The dominant mindset in a system that helps people and institutions within the system to understand the world. Like the 12 notes on a musical stave, it defines the limits of our understanding. Similar to the “Why” level of a system.

• Narrative: A big idea defined by people in power, to help us understand the world - like the bootstraps narrative of making your own success through hard work. A narrative shapes what we think, believe and do. Like music, it can be felt deeply. A narrative contains types of characters, plots, places - like the Hero’s Journey. Narratives are made up of stories. Similar to the “Who” level of a system.

• Stories: The widespread major access points for understanding - a specific account of events or ideas that we see, hear or experience together, reinforcing a narrative. A story contains particular characters, plots and places - like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars or a particular piece of music. Similar to the “Where” level of a system.

• Interactions: The exchanges and feedbacks of information which enables a narrative to flow and a system to function. Like when musicians interact with each other in “call and response.” Similar to the “How” level of a system.

• Message / Messaging: A piece of information, talking point, phrase or hashtag that suits the political moment, usually geared towards a short term attitude/behavior change. Like individual musical notes. Similar to the “What” level of a system.

Now that we have identified the system (Section 1) and the relationships and deep loop that power it (Section 2), in this chapter we look at the narratives that maintain the system’s health. Learn how to reach and activate key audiences before thinking about tactics.

The steps to take are these:

• Identify and deconstruct the main narratives and possible counter narratives in the system according to:

  • Our own assumptions and possible biases: We are all a product of our cultures and upbringings. White supremacy is one example but there are many -isms that can influence our unconscious thinking and our very ability to spot bias. 

  • Story world: What is the setting, central plot and who are the key characters? This is the environment in which the narrative plays out. Employment by a multinational company to extract and export natural resources could be presented as a way out of poverty for young people. Every story has a villain. Who is it here?

  • Story told: Who is telling the story? Why are we expected to trust this story or person? The identity of the storyteller influences how the narrative is received and understood. We might trust a community leader more than a President.

  • Story heard: What are we led to believe? Who is winning, losing or being blamed? How can we intervene? There may be a story underneath the one we are being told. Might others understand this story differently from us, depending on their situation? What is the purpose of that story in this context?

• Map these narratives and the media that can support or block them using an ocean chart.

• Consider what role you need to play to support the new/counter narrative: create, counter, amplify, reframe or attach. For a narrative to become popular we must ensure different people retell the narrative in their own words and stories.

​

​​

​

​

​

​

Populists use crises to shift narratives. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it was reported that the oil industry quickly moved to activate different people to tell stories that this would create a scarcity of resources which meant oil and petrol prices had to increase. 

Civil society organizations in general need to improve their narrative skills during crises although there are some examples of good work. See Chapter 19: Foresight is 20:20 for tips on how to plan in advance for crises and opportunities.

In the figure below, Mindworks Lab in India shows how harmful narratives against religious minorities are constructed and amplified by different stories and messages across different institutions, and levels of the system.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

For every narrative there is a possible counter-narrative. See the example below of the dominant narratives and counter-narratives concerning the death penalty, immigration, and economic inequality. While these will vary depending on the country and society, there are common themes which appear. It is important to understand how these show up in our country in order to cultivate the right counter-narrative.

The second diagram here shows the different aspects we need to consider when cultivating a counter-narrative.

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

Source (both tables and adapted table)

• FrameWorks Institute. (2021). The Features of Narratives: A Model of Narrative Form for Social Change Efforts. FrameWorks Institute.

​

Read more:

• Frameworks Institute

• MetGroup

• Mindworks Lab

• Narrative Initiative

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

In 1958, the women farmers of the Kom and Kedjom areas in the Western Grassfields of Cameroon faced several threats that they perceived as systematically undermining their power. These included the encroachment of Fulani cattle on their farmlands, the imposition of a new farming method (contour cultivation), and rumors that their land might be sold to Nigerian control by the Kamerun National Congress (KNC), a political party aligned with Nigeria.

​

The women needed to counter these threats by challenging the existing power structures and narratives that sought to diminish their influence. They aimed to protect their land, assert their authority, and influence the political direction of their region in favor of the Kamerun National Democratic Party (KNDP), which opposed the KNC.

Local women tapped into a traditional women's practise and network called anlu to organize a large-scale nonviolent resistance campaign to counter this narrative. The network was traditionally used to punish those who broke social norms - creating leverage at the Why and Who levels of the system. This network had leverage that Cameroonian men could not oppose.

Campaign activities

​

The anlu campaign took the following approach:

• Actions: 40 mile-march by thousands of women to converge on Njinikom, where they held weekly demonstrations, disrupted colonial meetings, and mocked colonial officials and local men in power. 

• Symbolism: Women protesters dressed in symbolic clothing, such as rags, greenery, and men’s clothes, and carried branches to imitate guns, challenging traditional gender roles and claiming power typically reserved for men.

• Alliance: They aligned themselves with the KNDP political party, which were in opposition to the KNC.

• Nonviolent resistance: Protest disrobing, singing, taunting officials, and social disobedience. 

• Challenges to system infrastructure (How level) and inputs and outputs (What level): lowering school attendance by 50-70% by pulling their children out of schools associated with the KNC party.

• Powerful new narrative: They created a parallel government, with their leaders taking on titles that mocked the British colonial system.

To create this powerful new narrative, the women farmers built a popular and irresistible narrative to shift the power back to them:

Narrative change approach

• Challenging Assumptions and Possible Bias:

• Women farmers recognized that the colonial authorities and local male leaders tended to operate under the biases of colonialism and patriarchy, seeing the women as lacking the authority or capability to challenge political and agricultural decisions. 

• The women used their cultural knowledge, such as the power of anlu as a social enforcement mechanism, to counteract these assumptions. 

• The women farmers’ actions also challenged the internalized biases within their community, asserting that women could not only participate in but lead political resistance. This campaign forced both the local men and the colonial powers to confront their own biases about gender and power.

Story World:

• Setting: The rural Western Grassfields of Cameroon, under the control of colonial powers and influenced by local patriarchal structures. The villains’ narrative promoted new agricultural practices and political control, while the women fought to maintain their way of life and power within their community.

• Central plot: The women farmers’ struggle to protect their land, autonomy, and traditional practices against external threats. 

• Key characters: 

  • The women farmers of Kom and Kedjom (protagonists); 

  • The colonial authorities and local male leaders (antagonists); 

  • The KNDP political party was in a supporting role, in opposition to the colonial-aligned KNC. 

Story Told:

• Storytellers: Mainly the women of the anlu movement. They are the narrators of their resistance, using actions, symbols, and traditions to communicate their story to both their community and the colonial powers. 

• Frame: Empowerment, justice, and resistance against oppression. 

• Trust: Is created because the story is rooted in the lived experiences and cultural knowledge of these women farmers, making it authentic and resonant with their community. 

• Position: The anlu women use their position as community members and the guardians of social norms to lend credibility to their actions and their cause.

Story Heard:

• At first the colonial authorities and local male leaders may have seen the women’s resistance as a disruptive, irrational challenge to established order. 

• But the underlying story that resonated with the public and increasingly understood by authorities was a story of righteous resistance to oppression, a call for justice, and a demand for respect and recognition of their rights. 

• Within the women farmer community the story was heard as a powerful assertion of their agency and a challenge to both colonial and patriarchal authority. 

Success

​

The women farmers’ anlu campaign was highly successful because it:

• Made the traditional government powerless to deal with the campaign.

• Sabotaged the efforts of non-supporters.

• Significantly disrupted the colonial administration. 

• Their efforts also contributed to an electoral victory for the KNDP in 1959. 

• Over the next few years, the government gradually met the movement’s demands.

• The anlu movement became an immense political force in the region, influencing Cameroon’s independence movement. 

Read more: https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/cameroonian-women-use-anlu-social-and-political-change-1958-1961 

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

In Zimbabwe, one traditional view claims that women should not wear revealing clothes, or risk public harassment. 

But in December 2014, a video showed a woman in Harare being publicly harassed and stripped naked, causing public outrage.

Women activists came together to challenge and change the cultural ideology that allowed public harassment of women and to create safe spaces for women. They did this by:

​

1. Understanding the Power of Narrative:

   • Seizing the Moment: Activists knew the video of the men harassing and shaming the woman went viral nationally and globally, drawing attention and outrage.

   • Creating a Counter Narrative: Activists decided to use this moment of “shame” to cultivate a counter-narrative that women have pride and power, pushing back against the cultural norms that claimed to justify harassment.

2. Organizing Protests:

   • Miniskirt March: Katswe Sistahood, a women's rights group working on sexual and reproductive rights, organized a street march where 200 women wore miniskirts and tight-fitting clothes, shouting “We can dress as we please.” The march was publicized through grassroots organizations and word-of-mouth.

3. Shocking the Establishment:

   • Mass Street Action: Scores of women marched through Harare, openly defying the cultural norms and protesting against street harassment. Men among the elites were shamed into action.

   • Gaining Attention: The march received mixed reactions from the public but was significant in raising awareness about women's rights and the need for safe spaces.

The government and police took action in response:

• Justice: The men who harassed the woman in the video were arrested and faced charges. 

• Influential support: The march gained the support of political leaders who advocated for women's freedom to dress as they please.

• Narrative Shift: The protest helped grow a counter narrative of pride and empowerment among women in society, countering the shaming fed by the more traditional view it opposed.

• Momentum: Women had transformed their collective strength and demanded their right to safety and freedom of expression. That said, the women’s movement did not always agree on the approaches taken to this challenge, which arguably may have reduced its impact. Gender inequality and the women’s movement continue their fight in Zimbabwe as they do around the world.

Read more: https://beautifultrouble.org/toolbox/tool/miniskirt-march

​

​​​​

​

concept: how populists use narratives

story: women use anlu for
         social and political change,
         cameroon