MLD-356M: Public Narrative: Conflict, Continuity, Change

Semester: Fall Mod2

Credit: 0.5

Syllabus: Click here for syllabus

Faculty: Marshall Ganz

Schedule

Day Time Location
First Day 10/23
Meet Day T/Th 2:40 PM - 4:00 PM STARR
Review

Description

This module builds on its prerequisite MLD-355M, “Public Narrative: Self, Us, Now.” In that module we began learning the practice of public narrative: how it works, why it works, and how to do it. But what if there’s more than one story, more than one story teller, and stories that conflict? Confronted with the same challenge, different leaders may respond with different narratives, calling on different “us’s,” and each of which may elicit a different form of action. Most of us have experienced competing narratives in our families, communities, faiths, schools, workplaces, organizations, and nations. Can we “clear up the confusion” by “getting the facts?” Is one story “wrong” and the other “right?” Or are competing narratives rooted in competing values, different life experience, diverse stories of self and us? Can we learn how to manage this challenge – without suppressing it? Students learn to draw on their narrative resources to respond to four critical leadership challenges: domination, difference, loss, and change. Can we respond to domination with resistance or of compliance? Can we respond to difference with inclusion or exclusion? Can we respond to loss with redemption or contamination? Can we respond to change with a conservation or reform?  Overall, how can we respond with a “story of now” that enhances “agency” - our capacity to act mindfully - by accessing hope over fear, empathy over alienation, and self-worth over self-doubt. Prerequisite: MLD-355M.

Also offered by the Graduate School of Education as A111Q.