Why Diverse and Inclusive Stories Matter in Social Change Communications

Telling diverse and inclusive stories for social change that center marginalized communities and build understanding requires that we show the complex ways communities experience systems of inequality.

By Annie Neimand, Natalie Asorey, Ann Christiano & Zakyree Wallace

Storytelling is the best tool we have for effectively communicating about big, systemic issues like racism, classism, and transphobia. People think in stories. When we don’t have a narrative that tells us how to think about an issue or when the narrative is inaccurate, partial, or too abstract, we fill in the gaps, and the stories we build in our own minds can be flawed and full of biases and assumptions. 

Great stories help us unterstand systemic issues because they transport us into the lives of the characters. We see the world through their eyes, and we are changed by their experiences because they feel like our own. Great stories can counter existing beliefs by rewriting someone's understanding. They can help communities radically imagine new ways of being and seeing.

Many people communicating for social change are exploring how to tell diverse and inclusive stories that do the important work of centering marginalized communities while building understanding about how inequality persists. 

Intersectionality, a theory with roots in Black feminist thought, can help.

What is Intersectionality?

Intersectionality describes overlapping or intersecting forms of discrimination related to gender, sex, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, sexuality, geographic location, disabilities, etc. Researchers and engineers should not consider gender in isolation. Gender identities, norms and relations both shape and are shaped by other social attributes. (Credit: Buolamwini & Gebru, 2018)

Intersectionality is a prism for illuminating how racism, sexism, and classism (and many other “isms” that affect people based on their religion, disabilities, physical appearance, sexuality, and nationality) interact and shape experiences within social institutions like education, health care, criminal justice, government policy, and media.

Intersectionality scholars analyze the widespread influence of these isms in every fiber of our society— the stories we celebrate, the policies we implement, and how we interact with each other. These isms never act alone. They are interlocking, and they affect individuals differently. When we don’t apply an intersectional lens to communications about systemic issues, we’re likely to get our communications wrong.

To help people see the complex ways communities experience systems of inequality (the multiple isms), we have to tell intersectional stories.

stories should help people radically imagine a future where justice and equality are status quoRather than telling stories to counter how a system defines a person, stories should help people radically imagine a future where justice and equality are status quo. 

Advocacy organizations and storytellers need to be intentional with the stories they share. By telling whole stories with care — ones that include systems and history, and that center the voices of marginalized communities — we can help people understand systemic issues and inspire them to act.

Dive Deeper

For some guiding principles on intersectionality and storytelling, read the full article here.