The Conflict Family: Storytelling as an Activity and a Method for Locally Led, Community‐Based Peacebuilding

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners are beginning to look to community‐based participatory research (CBPR) approaches in their efforts to address social problems with those directly affected by them. Yet additional methods and tools are needed. In this article, we propose storytelling as a participatory method in the context of peacebuilding. Drawing on the Conflict Family, an example of cultural storytelling from a locally led peacebuilding initiative in Ghana, we illustrate the ways in which storytelling emerged as a co‐constructed, culturally relevant, collaborative, reflexive, and memorable participatory strategy that functioned as a catalyst for action. Storytelling helped create a dialogic space for participants to discuss land disputes in their communities. This study contributes to what is known about storytelling by showcasing how cultural storytelling can promote local citizens’ ownership for CBPR approaches. It also reveals the ways storytelling can serve as a CBPR method that encourages a relational orientation and the co‐construction of meaning, as well as inspire transformation among local citizens, particularly in conflict situations and peacebuilding contexts.