What makes some narratives unseen or unheard and some more seen and heard? What makes some people or communities invisible? What leads to under or misrepresentations? What are the dimensions of narratives and what are the barriers of locating those? As creative practitioners, designers, artists, researchers, how can we reflect upon our own positionalities, privilege and power, to identify and map stories that the mainstream relegates or excludes?
These were the questions driving a social ecology study tour to Kochi-Muziris, part of an Environmental Exposure module at Srishti Manipal Institute. The project titled ‘Narrative Kitchen’ is part of a larger collaborative project with the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network and the Salsberg Global Seminar. Led by Sudebi Thakurata, we approached spaces as grounds for intersectional and complex perspectives, and reflected on our experiences in each space as a consequence of our upbringing and backgrounds.
The Narrative Finding framework I co-designed is based on one's positionality and reflections of their narrative-finding process. Community and Social Workers, Researchers, Students, Design Educators, Narrative Designers and Storytellers can use this as an adaptable, dynamic, inclusive and non-linear guide to assist in a more mindful and systematic discovery process. The quest of barriers to encountering narratives are explored with dimensions of why, how and what.
All of this is a back and forth spiral – a meandering journey of questioning who we are, engaging with our own positionality-privilege, experiencing roller-coaster rides between comfort and discomfort, transcending the often-fuzzy lines between othering and belonging, of ‘whom do we other’ and ‘how do we belong’, ‘why do we other’ and ‘where do we belong’, discovering and deciphering juxtapositions, stumbling upon acts of generosity and compassion that make us question our gaze and vantage points, finding, establishing and fostering relationships and tools, eventually leading to unlearning!
The framework emerged out of multiple activities, observations, readings, mapping, reflections and conversations, that were designed and facilitated with the purpose of juxtaposing one’s own positionality, privilege and power with the complex landscapes people immersed in.
As you engage with the framework, feel free to connect each checkpoint in a non-linear manner. The strongest narratives emerge out of spontaneity, and the vortex structure tries to achieve exactly that.
While looking at ways to find narratives, we first need to begin our journey by exploring our positionality. The framework provides some prompts for the user to keep in mind. It also provides space to accommodate emerging extensions of each category, to suit the specifications of individual users.
Where does my positionality place me in my…