Stories and Systems Change - From objective to empathic understanding of system change
The course was very different from what I'm used to. I loved the creative freedom. Combining system-thinking and power with stories helped me learn in a new way.
We are happy to present the third volume of our anthology of Stories for System Change. This anthology is based on the works of students from the course Stories and System Change, an elective course within the Global Sustainability Science programme. This year (Vol. 3), students explored our relation to nature, in the context of the Utrecht Hill ridge region (‘Utrechtse Heuvelrug’), an ecosystem that is suffering from anthropogenic pressures. Through stories, students attempted to reimagine how we may relate to nature in this area. The students were guided in this process by , a novelist and researcher, Josie Chambers, a transdisciplinary social scientist, and Brian Dermody, a systems scientist.
Working in groups, they began by mapping the structures and actors in the system. Having acquired this 'helicopter vision', they went on to explore how different individuals experience this system and the distribution of power within it. This understanding formed the basis for a series of exercises designed to help them build a fictional world, including an exploratory session at the Hill ridge.
Each student then selected a character from that world and wrote a story about how systems change would impact this particular individual. Writing a convincing story required research to empathise with the character’s experience, an effort ideally supported through interviewing actors in the real world. This year’s course ended with an interactive walk in the woods led by students to give a glimpse into the world and characters they created.
Students valued the combination of learning techniques, ranging from lectures to roleplay and observation exercises, and from creative writing to theatre. Or, as some students put it: 'The course was very different from what I'm used to. I loved the creative freedom. Combining system-thinking and power with stories helped me learn in a new way.’
The course helped them to move beyond a seemingly objective understanding of system change to empathise with (non-)human actors' experience of change. This also allowed them to question the stories told about system change by powerful actors, the ways in which these can shape our perception of change itself and hence the possibilities for action.
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Research team
Researcher and writer