Community Development Journal Advance Access published online on April 23, 2009
Community Development Journal, doi:10.1093/cdj/bsp017
Making meaning in muddy waters: representing complexity through community based storytelling
Address for correspondence: Robert Matthew Little, Psychosocial Research Unit, International School of Communities Rights and Inclusion, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK; email: rmlittle1{at}uclan.ac.uk
Internationally, storytelling has been used with many diverse communities. This paper compares the use of storytelling as a participatory art form within a community development project and a community and healthy living centre in the United Kingdom. Both the project and the centre regard storytelling activities as inclusionary forms of intervention. However, the discourse of social inclusion rarely acknowledges the subtle psychosocial processes that are involved in participatory storytelling. This paper discusses such processes and examines some methodological implications of researching storytelling. It asks what contribution storytelling can make towards authentic representation of individual and community voices.