Reasoning is complex and learned while storytelling is innate. Master plots become a way of making sense of the world. When we don’t see ourselves in the master plot, we think we need to be prettier, thinner, richer, …fill-in-the-blank. Stories really do shape our worldview, and we cannot let them do so uncritically.

Gretchen Busl is a narrative scholar, working to understand how stories can be used both to divide communities and to bring them together. She is an assistant professor in the Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Languages at Texas Woman’s University, focusing on global literature, rhetoric, and writing. As a Public Voices fellow with the Op-Ed Project, she is committed to erasing the artificial division between academic and public discourses. She believes that understanding and harnessing the power of narrative is a critical tool for social change.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx