Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Energy Research & Social Science http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy-‐research-‐and-‐social-‐science/call-‐for-‐papers/
NARRATIVES AND STORYTELLING IN ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH In recent years, references to narratives, stories, and storytelling have become common in energy and climate change research and policy (Randall 2009; Fine & O'Neill 2010; Open University 2014). Stories are used to communicate with, influence, and engage audiences; they serve as artefacts to investigate in terms of content, actors, relationships, power, and structure; they can be used to gather information, provide insight, and reframe evidence in a way that question-‐and-‐answer formats miss. But they are not simply benign or neutral, and a critical stance is needed. This special issue aims to cultivate a solid structure for understanding, interpreting, and applying stories within energy and climate change research and policy by (1) presenting a breadth of analytical approaches to stories and storytelling, and (2) showcasing projects that feature stories or their performance in the energy and climate change fields. There are several reasons that this collection is timely. First, stories abound in research and policy, with a rhetorical structure different from that of the rational approaches, facts, and numbers that have been the ordinary face of knowledge in policy and science. Stories allow tellers to represent multiple perspectives simultaneously, and observers to see different facets of complex issues, complicating notions of “the truth.” Second, ambitious versions of energy and climate change futures involve imagining everyday experiences and speculating on how life might be reconfigured, but with limited means for observing these experiences or understanding how people cope with or create change. Storytelling offers methods to collect this information, both as data and as grounded inspiration for the future. Third, theory and analytical approaches to stories and storytelling are spread across multiple disciplines (e.g., folkloristic, marketing, linguistics, psychiatry, organizational studies, etc.), with little discussion bridging different traditions of analysis or outlining the varied forms and formats of stories and storytelling. This makes it difficult for energy and climate change researchers without training in narrative-‐oriented disciplines to draw from with the depth, breadth, keywords, and cautions on offer. We welcome both more conceptual (e.g., Janda & Topouzi 2015) and more applied (e.g., Rotmann, Goodchild & Mourik 2015) submissions. Among the possible topics: • Analysis of stories to reveal and express experience, mental models, relationships, emotions, and metaphors • Storytelling as used in marketing, organizations, research, politics, etc., for creating cognitive frames intended to influence others • Storytelling as performance and as a means of creating and sorting out “meanings” and honing identities, values, and status • Storytelling in pedagogy, journalism, funding pitches, and research reporting • Stories as a means of translating between different research disciplines and sectors, reducing jargon, and creating a common base for collaboration • Storytelling by policymakers, scientists, and organizations to convey successes, failures, and visions, and to promote shared learning • Storytelling as a research method for collecting and portraying anecdotal data and perceptions • Stories, science, ethics, inspiration, and their interplay • Stories as a form of evidence and knowledge, such as the contribution of social and behavioral sciences to energy research • Hegemony aspects of stories and storytelling • Stories as they connect to discussions about the future, including but not limited to rhetorical visions, forecasting scenarios, imaginaries, and fantasy theme analysis
Proposals for both short communications (1,000-‐3,000 words) and full length research papers (6,000-‐ 10,000 words) are invited. Please feel welcome to contact any of the special issue editors for questions or discussion: Drs. Mithra Moezzi (
[email protected]), Sea Rotmann (
[email protected]), and Kathryn Janda (
[email protected]). For consideration, submit a one-‐page abstract to Mithra Moezzi (
[email protected], or
[email protected]) by 30 June 2016. Final papers will be due 21 February 2017. Important Dates 30 June 2016: Abstracts due 31 July 2016: Notification of abstract selection 14 October 2016: First draft of papers due 30 November 2016: Reviews returned 21 February 2017: Final papers due April/May 2017: Publication in journal References Fine, G. A. & B. O'Neill. 2010. "Policy legends and folklists: traditional beliefs in the public sphere." Journal of American Folklore 123 (488):150-‐178. Janda, K. B. & M. Topouzi. 2015. "Telling tales: using stories to remake energy policy." Building Research & Information 43 (4):516-‐533. Open University. 2014. Stories of Change: OpenSpace Research Centre. Available from http://www.open.ac.uk/researchcentres/osrc/research/projects/stories-‐of-‐change. Randall, R. 2009. "Loss and climate change: the cost of parallel narratives." Ecopsychology 1 (3):118-‐29. Rotmann, S.B. Goodchild & R. Mourik. 2015. "Once upon a time... How to tell a good energy efficiency story that 'sticks.'" In Proceedings of the ECEEE Summer Study, 1-‐6 June 2015. European Council for an Energy-‐Efficient Economy: Stockholm, Sweden.
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