Invited editors: Concha Rodríguez (UB), Antoni Roig (UOC), Gemma San Cornelio (UOC) and Aurora Vall (UB)
Instructions for authors: /en/authors-guidelines
Traditionally and in any culture, storytelling has served to transmit knowledge and value, and to share feelings and emotions. Stories appeal to empathy, making it easier to overcome barriers that distance us from people we perceive as unlike ourselves. Personal stories (Burgess, 2013) give us a vision of the world and share emotional knowledge through the universality of themes like loss, belonging, hope for the future, friendship or love.
Digital environments enable us to share knowledge and life experiences, as well as to make our personal narratives public (Raman, 2017). The danger of the use of “universal themes” in a globalized context lies in the influence of media culture and the narrative imaginaries established in the logic of narration on social media, reinforcing myths and stereotypes. What motivates us as researchers is the need to go deeper and look for alternatives that go beyond these clichés.
Likewise, the information units and institutions dedicated to preserving memory seek to turn personal and collective memory into an inclusive instrument of social cohesion and for staving off forgetfulness. Life stories or tales, human libraries are ultimately revolutionary tools for understanding the life experience of the other, and they make it possible to break down stereotypes, promote empathy, overcome fears, and construct a more equitable and more human project for the future (Giraldo, 2012, 2019).
Issue 48 of BiD is dedicated to papers that address narrative practices in professional, institutional, academic and research contexts, from any knowledge domain and from any theoretical or practical approach. Narrative understood in a broad sense, whether from a discursive, oral, narratological or mythological perspective, uses communication as a creative tool or as a tool of social awareness, to establish a particular story line. Research or experiences that explore hybrid frameworks for understanding these narratives, such as the concept of small stories (Georgakopoulou, 2017), in life stories or in the personal accounts of daily life are especially interesting. Other elements to consider have to do with the temporality of the stories and, ultimately, a more contextualized and diverse vision of personal stories, which appeal directly to the participants. All of this without forgetting the visual and narrative aspects of the image-based platforms, such as Instagram or TikTok, which involve more sophisticated methodological challenges.
Some of the ideas and issues to be included in this monograph are the following:
– Personal narratives. Personal and identity-related stories.
– Human library, life stories, memory workshops, etc.
– Collective memory as a factor of identity or guarantee of continued existence in time: Creating or gathering, conserving and disseminating to reclaim, enjoy, share this memory.
– Storytelling actions related to dissemination of knowledge, raising awareness of personal and social challenges, transmission of heritage etc.
– Speculative personal narratives with meaning for specific groups.
– Speculative narratives about possible futures and oriented towards action and social transformation.
– Collective creation and activism: Interactive documents, participatory processes, etc.
– Involvement and participation of audiences in collective narrative experiences.
– Experimental narrative experiences on social media. Stories, micro-stories and fictional experiences.
– Digital narratives based on data and visualizations.
– Educational experiences told through narratives: Social media, promotion and encouragement of reading, book recommendations, book clubs, etc.
– Celebrities on social media. Aspects related to stories by influencers, YouTubers, booktubers, Instagrammers and other agents.
– Memes.
– Fandom and activism on social media.
Creative Commons licence (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative works). They may be consulted and distributed freely provided that the author and publisher are quoted (in accordance with the “Recommended citation” section in each of the articles). However, no derivative works (translation, change of format, etc.) may be made without the publisher’s permission. Therefore, it meets the definition of open access form the Budapest Open Access Initiative declaration. The journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions and to retain publishing rights without restrictions.