Metaphors as a Tool for Transformation in Social-Change Dialogues
What does it mean to work for changes that will fundamentally shift how human societies organize themselves so that more people will have access to the conditions that support human flourishing? How do you practice social change in an era of polarization? How do you influence positive social
change when powerholders see everything from calls for fundamental human rights to climate change realities as conspiracies?
This paper retrospectively explores five metaphors for social change as a sensemaking and transformative framing practice in complex organizational and social-change scenarios. I follow a brief contextual overview with a description of how my own Afrocentrism worldview has been central to my preference for working within a Dialogic Organization Development mindset/theory of change. I then discuss the specific use of narrative forms as part of my dialogic practice to support groups thinking…