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As recent movements such as #MeToo demonstrate, individual stories, pooled together in large enough numbers, can fuel political movements and bring important issues to mainstream consciousness. In this timely and important study, Helga Lenart-Cheng has uncovered the antecedents of this phenomenon and provided a historical and critical analysis of this seemingly new but in fact deeply rooted tradition. Story Revolutions features a rich variety of case studies, spanning the Enlightenment, the 1930s, and the twenty-first century-three historical periods marked by a convergence of mass movements and new methods of data collection that led to a boom in activism based in the aggregation of stories. Ultimately, this book offers readers a critical perspective on the concept of community itself, with incisive reflections on what it means to use storytelling to build democracy in the twenty-first century.
About the author
Helga Lenart-Cheng is Associate Professor at St. Mary's College of California.
Summary
Social media has facilitated the sharing of once isolated testimonies to an extent and with an ease never before possible. In this timely and important study, Helga Lenart-Cheng uncovers the antecedents of this phenomenon and provides a historical and critical analysis of this seemingly new but in fact deeply rooted tradition.
