What is Ethical Storytelling?

I believe my calling, or a big part of it anyway, is to tell ethical missions stories, or ethical stories about cross-cultural work. But what does that mean? The truth is I’m still learning. But here’s what I know right now.

Ethical stories preserve the dignity of their subjects. These stories aim to help readers and viewers better understand complex issues, rather than oversimplifying problems. Ethical stories help people see the humanity in others. They allow subjects to speak for themselves. They don’t further stereotypes, but dismantle them instead. They are diverse. Ethical stories don’t show people as utterly helpless, needing rescue from those in a “wealthy” country. Rather, they show depth, and portray people as more than just a difficult circumstance.

We’ve probably all seen ad campaigns that feature images of crying, dirty, malnourished children. These stories may be effective at creating feelings of pity, which can translate into donations. But they don’t do a good job of helping us see the humanity and dignity of others. They don’t help us understand the complex issues contributing to poverty, famine, or war. They may cause us to say, “Look at that poor, poor person. I’m going to give money to this organization, so that I can rescue them.”

But it is important that we ask ourselves, “If it were me or someone I love in this situation, how would I want to be portrayed? How would I want the people I love to be portrayed?”

I think good storytelling encourages us to say, “Oh, I didn’t know that. I learned something new. I’ve never thought about this issue from that perspective before.” Rather than create a feeling of pity which leads to a desire to rescue, good storytelling causes us to ask ourselves, “How can I partner with this person to help create positive change?”

There’s a lot more to say about this topic. Come back every Tuesday and Friday as we go deeper into into the issue of ethical cross-cultural storytelling.