1st Edition
Narratives in Times of Radical Transformation
This book explores how narratives have been and can be used to facilitate radical transformations towards a more sustainable future.
Scholars from various disciplines have been increasingly utilizing social and cultural narratives to understand personal, social, and cultural transformations. These narratives offer guiding principles for achieving personal, social, and cultural transformations. Drawing on various fields such as psychoanalysis, psychology, sociology, technology, cultural studies, and related areas, this book presents different perspectives on narratives in situations of transformation, exploring both commonalities and differences. The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research that underpins this book emphasizes the co-creation of knowledge between political, academic and civil society actors, and therefore necessitates shared narratives that can foster common problem-solving strategies. Shared narratives also play a crucial role in legitimizing goals by supporting pluralistic value- and norm-integration.
Offering new insights on how interdisciplinary research and therapeutic practice can assist individuals, groups, and even entire cultures in facilitating radical transformations towards more peaceful and sustainable living conditions, this book will be a key resource for scholars and researchers of sociology, psychology, technology, cultural studies, and related areas. It was originally published as a special issue of Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research.
Introduction: Narratives for personal and collective transformations
Toshio Kawai, Jonas Fahlbusch, Hans-Liudger Dienel, Ortwin Renn and Regina Renn
1. A study of spontaneous narrative formation: coronavirus and narratives of doom
Nancy van den Berg-Cook
2. Transformation through transcendence
Päivi Alho
3. From personal to transpersonal? An evolutionary stance and ‘self’ as the centre of narrative gravity
Timothy Jackson
4. Paradoxical nature of narrative in analytical psychotherapy
Chihiro Hatanaka, Toshio Kawai, Yasuhiro Tanaka, Hisae Konakawa, Yuka Suzuki and Nico Makian
5. The algebra of the protagonist: sustainability, normativity and storytelling
David Maggs and Ilan Chabay
6. Interactive network visualization on the integration of mindsets and sustainability – creating conditions for emergence through a relational narrative
Thomas Bruhn, Sebastian Meier and Mark G. Lawrence
7. Exploring narrative strategy: the role of narratives in the strategic positioning of organizational change
Bernhard Fischer-Appelt and Rafael Dernbach
8. Narratives of fungal-based materials for a new bioeconomy era
Nora Delvendahl, Hans-Liudger Dienel, Vera Meyer, Nina Langen, Jennifer Zimmermann and Martin Schlecht
9. Smart grids, smart households, smart neighborhoods – contested narratives of prosumage and decentralization in Berlin’s urban Energiewende
Leslie Quitzow
10. Can a rapid mobility transition appear both desirable and achievable? Reflections on the role of competing narratives for socio-technical change and suggestions for a research agenda
Lisa Ruhrort
11. Honi the Circle-Maker: an ancient narrative for creating temenos in challenging times
Robin B. Zeiger
Biography
Toshio Kawai, professor for clinical psychology at the Kyoto University and director of its “Kokoro Research Center” up to 2023.
Jonas Fahlbusch, urban planner and senior scientist at the chair for Work, Technology and Participation of Berlin University of Technology.
Hans-Liudger Dienel, professor for Work, Technology and Participation at Berlin University of Technology. Editor in chief of “Innovation. European Journal of Social Science Research.
Ortwin Renn, Sociologist, professor for sociology of technology and the environment of Stuttgart University and director of the Resarch Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam up to 2023.
Regina Renn, psychologist, former executive committee member of German Assocication for Analytic Psychology.
