Last August, the Narratives Project was born out of a tweet. I posted a rough analysis of the Kenosha shooting which, to my suprise, received a great deal of attention. After some encouragement, I started the Narratives Project newsletter here on Substack, where I experimented with narrative analyses for the next few months.
During this time, three aspects of our current political climate have become clear:
Divisive political narratives dominate our discourse.
Social media dynamics promote polarization.
News media practices exacerbate these issues.
This problem is more than a single newsletter can address. So I’m very grateful to announce that we’ve secured funding to turn our project into a social venture for political mindfulness and peace.
In this next stage, we will establish ourselves as a public-facing research and outreach organization. We will improve the quality and quantity of our narrative analyses and develop other means and methods of analysis and intervention.
Our aim is to create tools and content that the media consumer can use to better understand the world around them. In doing so, we hope to create a healthier political discourse and transform our political culture.
In the coming months we’ll be building out our systems and hiring staff, after which we’ll have a proper launch (and a much more detailed announcement). I am delighted to share this exciting news, and I want to thank you for your interest and support over the past 8 months.
And as always, that’s all for now.
Shaun