I’ve written before about people wanting narratives to make sense of the world. I think that the rumor mill in Afghanistan, described in this compelling blog post from IWPR is a classic example. People with limited information access, living terribly difficult lives, trying to make sense of the world around them.
narratives
Making sense of suffering
Suffering people want narratives that make sense of their suffering as much as they want “solutions.” This is said here in the context of politics but I think it is also extremely true in the developing world. If you want to create and support positive change, you need to change the narratives people believe in.