Module 7
Oral storytelling & Intangible Heritage
Socially engaged storytelling uses stories not just for entertainment, but to spark dialogue, reflection, and change in a community or society. Traditional oral storytelling provides the roots, methods, and ethos for socially engaged storytelling. It models how stories can be communal, participatory, and transformativ, all central to storytelling as a tool for social change. As one of humanity’s earliest forms of communication, it carries with it the practices and values that continue to inform how stories function within communities today. Traditional oral storytelling not only anchors socially engaged storytelling in deep cultural and historical practices, but also offers a guiding vision of how storytelling can be mobilized today to strengthen communities, amplify marginalized voices, and catalyse social change.
The Role of the Mentor
A podcast with Jakob Elofsson (SE)
“Traditional stories enter into dialogue with contemporary life stories as they have done for thousands of years. They are part of our intangible cultural heritage, and they endure because they contain universal truths about what it means to be human and to live in society.”
Storytelling & Transmission of Values
How can storytelling contribute to the transmission of values in Europe, and how can this becomes visible in practice?
Socially Engaged Storytelling & Tradition
A theoretical exploration of socially engaged storytelling as a dynamic practice that preserves cultural knowledge while fostering imagination, empathy, critical thinking, and social change through shared, transformative experiences that connect communities across time and cultures.