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The Uses of Root Narrative Theory
Root Narrative Theory was developed to deepen and refine our understanding of power and justice. It is a theory of moral politics, demonstrating how different worldviews develop around different rational and emotional interpretations of abuses of power and struggles for justice.
Root Narrative Theory demonstrates that when different root narratives—that is, different political and moral worldviews—come up against each other, it is only normal that conflict will spark. The job for the RNT-informed peacemaker, conflict resolver, or social justice advocate is to harness the insights and dynamics described via RNT to develop strategies for engaging with justice and power conflicts in a constructive, rather than destructive, way.
There are two broad uses for RNT: in research, and in real-world implementation.
Research
One way to use RNT is as a theoretical and methodological guide for research projects.
RNT can help to inform studies of moral politics and radical disagreement. It can provide a framework for understanding both the narrative dynamics of political and moral conflict writ-large and for understanding the interplay of justice / power in conflict situations.
As a methodological tool, RNT can be used to code and analyze data. One way of using RNT is to build root narrative profiles of specific narrative artifacts, such as speeches, party platforms, newspaper articles, etc. RNT can also be used to analyze other types of narrative artifacts as well, such as examples of expressive culture (i.e., films, novels, music, photographs, etc.) or transcripts of conversations and interviews.
The most important determining feature for deciding to use RNT as a theoretical or methodological guide is whether your study involves questions of justice and power on a political level.
RNT is best used to study the narrative dynamics of how deep structures of power (such as authoritarianism, fascism, xenophobia, liberalism, capitalism, socialism, racism, feminism, xenophobia, etc.) show up in your data.
An example of the use of RNT in research
Simmons, Solon. “Root Narrative Theory and Character Assassination.” Journal of Applied Social Theory 1, no. 3 (2021): 158–185.
Simmons, Solon. “Struggle and Martyrdom: Abusive Power and Root Narrative in the Aftermath of the Eritrean Revolution.” Peace and Conflict Studies 27, no. 2 (2020).
Implementation
Root Narrative Theory can also be used by various narrative practitioners to support the creation of narrative artifacts about abuses of power and efforts to rectify them. RNT can be used to improve:
- political storytelling (including speeches, campaign communications, and policy documents);
- journalistic storytelling (including reported pieces, long-form essays, multimedia projects);
- expressive culture about political and social themes (including films, television shows, novels, music, etc.);
- and other narrative artifacts.
Root Narrative Theory can also be used to improve narrative transformation processes. It would be particularly useful for peacebuilders and conflict transformers as an analytical tool to help facilitate peace, conflict resolution, conflict management, and conflict transformation dialogues.
One place to start would be to use RNT to build the root narrative profiles of parties to the dialogue. Then, once the profiles have been determined, narrative mediation techniques (Monk and Winslade, 2013), such as double listening, externalizing, and mapping effects, could be use to “braid” (Cobb, 2013) the root narrative profiles of each party together in such a way as to develop a new guiding and structuring narrative that addresses their interests, needs, emotional ties, and value commitments.
A Note on RNT Profiles
It is very rare to come across narrative artifacts with a single root narrative profile represented in the text. No one person, group, or entity will draw on the same root narrative all the time.
In practice, most narrative artifacts are a mix of different root narratives and sub-narratives. Some may be more heterogenous than others, offering a more balanced mix among different sub-narratives.
When working with RNT profiles, it’s important not just to pay attention to the overall mix of root narratives and sub-narratives, but also to pay attention to which subjects seem to activate which root narratives. It’s possible to take a common subject—for example, vaccination against COVID-19—and narrate it from completely different root narratives.
An RNT profile will help you identify which political and moral worldviews are present in a text, and which subjects these worldviews include.
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