Today’s Concept is Narrative

Narrative has become a buzz word in public discourse. The word pops-up everywhere, television, news stories, film and literature, college curriculums, in podcasts and so on. People use this word in debates, write-ups and in contesting a particular thinking. But do the people comprehend the meaning and the operation of the concept? Like many concepts, this has also become loose after over-use. Remember, similar comment was made about socialism. C.E.M. Joad, an English philosopher and broadcaster said, “Socialism is like a hat whose shape has been broken because everyone has tried to wear it”. The metaphor seems to apply to the concept of Narrative as well. Although over-use and many forms of narratives make a definition look elusive, if we have the understanding of its form and function, one can tie all the narratives into one over arching meaning.
As said, narratives are all over. They are as critical to our daily intellectual existence as food and shelter for our physical beings. Without the narratives, we might lack some of the most important tools to learn and share our experiences, conduct our political lives and to define our intellectual identities. But some working definition of this over-used, commonplace concept is necessary. In order to do so, let us briefly analyse its purpose, cite some examples and lay out the basics of how it works.
The origin of the word is unclear. The common understanding of Narrative refers to a mindset, a paradigm of thinking or even an ideology. But it is not an apt description of the concept. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary gives the meaning of Narrative as a description of events, especially in a novel or a story. As an example, a sentence given is, a gripping narrative of their journey up the Amazon. Another meaning given in the same dictionary is the act, process or skill of telling a story. Example: the novel contains too much dialogue and not enough narrative. Again, this is not the meaning implied in the current use of the word, Narrative.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives us two meanings. One, narrative is something that is narrated; a story or an account. For example, Ramesh is writing a detailed narrative of his life on the island. The second meaning is, a narrative is a way of representing or understanding a situation or a series of events that reflects and promotes a particular point of view or set of values. For example, the rise of regional parties against the weak leadership in Congress leading to indiscipline and chaos, prompted a BJP narrative about weak central leadership of a party is a threat to Indian unity and nationalism. Likewise, in 2024 general elections, the leading narrative of BJP is strong leadership and growth of India as a world power, whereas the Congress narrative is, a vote against BJP is defence of Indian democracy.
In simple terms, a narrative is a story or a count of events, experiences, activities etc whether actual or contrived. In Narratives can take many forms – written, spoken, visual, or they can be used to entertain inform or persuade. In communication and media, a narrative is a way of organising and presenting information, events or ideas in a logical and consistent manner with a clear beginning, middle and end. The journalist formula of 4Ws and H are used to present a news or create a narrative. 4Ws are – What, When, Where, Who and How. A narrative can be used to make sense of complex stories to create a sense and a meaning, and to engage an audience emotionally. Narratives are used to influence public opinion, perceptions or beliefs.
A more accurate meaning of the word could be secured if the purpose of a narrative is to describe or decipher reality. Conceptually, reality is an outcome of a process of construction. It is not just a given set of facts containing their intrinsic meanings. The implications or meanings of issues, problems and events are not self-evident. How to make sense of them is primarily a function of the interpretive framework people use for themselves. These frameworks have been labelled as narratives. Thus, Narrative has been defined as a fundamental way in which we grasp the meaning and the order of the events we experience and in particular, how we understand human actions and their consequences.
Narratives thus supply mental maps which lend some sort of intelligibility to the raw data of events and experiences. The process of narration is usually a social one. Political actors can make strategic interventions, by highlighting issues for debates, identifying problems, associating values, and proffering policy solutions. Thus, they contribute to the gradual development of the public conversation. Narrative has a corollary word called framing. Mobilising contents for a narrative is called framing.
Framing occurs when particular aspects of reality are chosen and amplified with intention of eliciting support from the people for a preferred understanding of social problems and a preferred set of solution. This process of framing involves distilling from a largely complex reality, a particular narrative or storyline. For a narrative to gain currency, it has to win a kind of credibility, legitimacy for itself while marginalising, downgrading or delegitimizing alternative constructions offered by the opponents.
Very broadly speaking, narratives mean a political story or tale, which reflects various political demands or political conflicts in a more comprehensive ideological, normative and historical context. Narratives have a strong normative charge. They are closely linked to underlying moral concepts which are admittedly differently interpreted; for example, the moral concepts of the French Revolution (Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood) or those of the foundational principles of Indian Constitution – secularism, federalism and nationalism. Narratives form an important bridge of communication between political and other elites to the everyday understandings of the general public.
By pointing to the normative charge of narratives, it is being made clear that political communication is not always rational. At the same time, it is being admitted in the recent years by political scientists and consultants that there is quite a bit of emotion associated with political thinking. So if the narratives are not rational, they tend to be often emotional. Scholars, researching on the influence of emotions as well as the unconscious in the field of politics, indicate that quite often political decisions are not made consciously, but are influenced by emotional narratives.
Some forms of political narratives are political myths. A political myth consists of historical events which are known to most people and are explained in the present context. One can define myth or a particular narrative as an emotionally loaded narration which interprets the historical reality not according to the facts but in a selective way. Political myths make a particular sense of the word and attempt at orienting others. They create a feeling of Us and Them. Such narratives give up legitimising, integrating and coherence forming actions and take up communicating and mobilising functions.
On the other hand, a transformative narrative should foster corresponding attitudes in the society in accordance with the perception of a good and happy life. So narratives are outstandingly relevant for the orientation of actors as well as to influence actions. Narratives reduce complexity, establish order, influence future-oriented strategies for action, and provide the foundation for cooperation among actors and generate support for them.
Narratives are social. They are at the heart of how we communicate as social beings. If we look for definitions, descriptions, and discussions of what narratives are, we will find many references to the natural humanity of narratives. They are a part of who we are and how we share that with others. So, there are different narratives – literary, social, scientific, economic and political etc. We are referring largely here to political narratives, because that is the sector where the use of the word is more common place than others.
Political narratives are supposed to represent ‘political reality’. But what is a political reality? It can be defined broadly as political events, activities, entities or situations that are real or are perceived to be real. There are two ways of comprehending this reality. One, one can suppose that political reality is a given object that can be accessed directly. The second is that the concept of political reality is in itself constructed and processed by human perspectives and value-added assumptions. The second is more in evidence in political practice.
We frequently encounter situations in which political players keep on creating narratives that are supposed to represent the political reality. But in actual fact, these narratives are used as a means of persuasion and political mobilisation. Such narratives are so created that they resonate with the voters and shape public opinion. In other words, a political narrative is a story that is told by politicians and their campaigners to present themselves and their policies in a favourable light in order to win confidence and votes.
Political narratives are used in various ways. For campaigning: political narratives can be used to guide campaign strategies in order to gain advantage over the opposition. They can also be used in party communication strategies such as using selective information to mislead the opposition and control the narrative. In the Parliamentary elections 2024, the ruling party is using narratives that project them as a strong and a delivering government and the opposition as weak, divided and confused. Narratives are also used for leadership projection. A narrative can portray a leader as strong, determined, decisive and a deliverer. Such narratives are used by the ruling BJP for Narendra Modi. His power of delivering is used as his ‘guarantee’. In fact, the BJP manifesto is called ‘Modi ki guarantee’.
How does one construct a political narrative? It involves developing a story or a message that appeals to the people in favour of a particular candidate or policy. Some steps can be suggested for constructing a political narrative; Identifying the target audience – analysing the demographics, mindsets, values and concerns of your targets; Formulating the message – simple and clear messages that reflect the thinking of the target audience; Consistency and urgency – maintain consistency in your messaging and highlight the problems to lend a sense of urgency; Reiterate your messages – repeating your messages with greater emphasis will stick them in the minds of the voters; Be adaptable – be prepare to adapt your narratives as the campaign progresses and new information comes up; Countering a narrative – it may be necessary to counter the narrative of your opponent by pointing out inaccuracies or inconsistencies and non-plausibility of the programmes
In parenthesis, it is important to note that of all kinds of narratives – literary, media, political etc - are not always true. Some may be misleading or deceptive. It is advisable that one has to be circumspect and question the veracity of the facts presented in the narrative. There are laws to check spread of false information, use of hate-communication and opinions that can hurt sentiments and rights of others.

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