Linking Stories and Initiatives: A Narrative Approach to Working with the Skills and Knowledge of Communities

By David Denborough, Carolyn Koolmatrie, Djapirri Mununggirritj, Djuwalpi Marika, Wayne Dhurrkay & Margaret Yunupingu.

This paper describes an approach to community work informed by narrative ideas that we hope will be of relevance to practitioners in a wide-range of contexts. Over the last year, a number of Aboriginal communities, which are experiencing hard times, have been exchanging stories. These are stories about special skills, special knowledge, about hopes and dreams and the ways that people are holding onto these. They are stories that honour history. This article describes the thinking that has informed this process. It also contains extracts of stories and messages from different communities.