Narratives for personal and collective transformations

Abstract

The idea for this special issue emerged during the international conference “Narratives in Times of radical Transformation” that was conducted online from 19 to 20 November 2020. The interdisciplinary conference was jointly organized by the Technical University Berlin (Chair for Labour Science, Technology & Participation (TUB, ARTE), the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), the Jungian International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) and the Kokoro Research Center at Kyoto University, recently renamed in Institute for the Future of Human Society (Kokoro). All four institutions share a common interest in the reflection of narratives for personal, social and cultural transformation, but from quite different perspectives: While the Jungian Analytical Psychology and the Kokoro Center emphasizes a psycholo gical and spiritual perspective, the IASS and TU Berlin have their roots in sustainability studies, STS (Science, Technology, Society), social and engineering sciences and the humanities. In short, the conference integrated quite different perspectives on narratives as catalysts for change. The conference aimed to explore how the persuasive power of narratives have been and can be used to understand, facilitate, and shape radical transformations towards a more sustainable world. The conference was planned to be conducted physically in Berlin. However, due to the ongoing pandemic situation and travelling restrictions, the conference organizers decided to switch to a digital format. This has proved to be a success. Around 150 people from all over the world took part in the conference. The consistency of the discussions throughout the two days and the quality of contributions, both from the speakers and the discussants, were of an extraordinarily high level. With respect to the contributions to this special issue, it is evident that constructive comments from the discussions have been directly incorporated into the papers. The editor also approved a small number of additional contributions that seemed to complement the papers presented at the workshop. All contributions were exposed to a rigorous peer review process. Narratives constitute more than simple stories about an event or an activity. They form typical patterns of plausible sequences that provide, most often intuitively, meaning to what is being expressed. They are social engines for sense-making in a complex and confusing world. As an agent for complexity reduction, they create a firm foundation for current and future-oriented action plans, they can help to shape a commonly shared framework for co-operation between actors and enhance the impression of reliability and predictability when it comes to future expectations (WBGU 2011, 84). Compared to leitmotifs and imaginaries as visionary pictures, narrative have a more diachronical character, they tell consistent stories that resonate with cognitions as well as emotions. For this special issue the main focus has been placed on narratives that represent stories of change. This special dedication to future outlooks was the main motivation to organize the multi-and transdisciplinary conference, which included numerous traditions ranging from analytical psychology to theories of sustainability policymaking. A