Abstract
Nestled on Main Street in the relatively tiny town of Jonesborough, Tennessee, is the International Storytelling Center (ISC). An affiliate member of the Smithsonian Institution, the ISC has been a strong advocate for preserving and promoting the power of storytelling for more than 40 years (ISC, n.d.). One of its target areas of interest is to teach organizations the value of storytelling and how to apply this age-old tradition to “communicate effectively, address real-world challenges and realize opportunities.” These three points directly summarize the material presented in Matthew W. Seeger and Timothy L. Sellnow’s work, Narratives of Crisis: Telling Stories of Ruin and Renewal.
Seeger, currently Dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University, is a well-established voice in topics related to crisis and risk communication. His research has appeared in more than 100 journal articles, with Narratives of Crisis his 10th book on the subject. He has also served as a consultant for Fortune 500 firms on crisis management planning and response and has worked with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more than a decade. Seeger is also a member of the World Health Organization Guidelines Development Group for Emergency Risk Communication.
Sellnow joined the University of Central Florida faculty in 2015 as a professor in the Nicholson School of Communication. His research focuses on bioterrorism, pre-crisis planning, and strategic communication for risk management and mitigation in organizational and health settings. He has conducted funded research for the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey. Sellnow has published numerous refereed journal articles on risk and crisis communication and has coauthored five books on this topic.
Perhaps it is because of their combined long-time and robust experience in risk management and crisis communication that the authors do not “tippy-toe” around these topics but immediately and confidently step in beginning with the first page of this book. Example after example is presented in rapid deployment. The first chapter, “Narratives of Crisis,” introduces the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, Hurricane Katrina, and the sinking of the luxury ocean liner RMS Titanic. Seeger and Sellnow successfully transition from these real-life examples to providing theoretical frameworks and descriptions of “crisis” and “disaster” that serve as the foundation for the remainder of the book. At the same time, however, the authors do not stray from the topic of “communication” for very long and always return to it in fresh and expansive ways.
As the book’s title suggests, much emphasis is placed on using narrative and storytelling to understand crisis situations from multiple perspectives, how to mitigate future risk, and identify opportunities for change in process, training, or regulation. While “crisis” is the focal point of this volume and emphasis is placed on natural disasters and very public events, much of the material presented can be easily translated and applied to less dramatic forms of storytelling in the workplace.
The first chapter serves as a framework for the entire book, and subsequent chapters focus on more specific themes. Chapter 2, “Humans as Storytellers,” presents subtopics not usually found in most works related to the broader subject. The authors discuss the concepts of “probability” and “fidelity,” for example, in addition to more traditional topics of “characters,” “setting,” and “plot.”
This work additionally sets itself apart in that much attention is paid to how a crisis can create significant social, political, and economic change. The authors do not shy away from topics that others might be more timid to address—for example, how social class can influence how a crisis is reported, responded to, and what follow-up action is taken. A crisis is a disturbance to a comfortable or taken-for-granted way of life that can result in profound edits to the long-held narrative, but at the same time offer significant opportunities for positive change. Chapter 3, “How Stories Disrupt Our Sense of Meaning,” introduces this topic in a thoughtful and significant way.
The inclusion of chapter 4, “Making Sense through Accounts,” further expands and carries forward the ideas introduced in the previous chapter while specifically addressing three forms of account narratives: experiential first-person, responsibility, and third-person/party. The authors provide very specific descriptions of each of these forms of narrative and supply inspiration for how readers can use these concepts to benefit their particular situation. Additionally, the personal accounts of two people who experienced Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and an initial responsibility account from Murray Energy Corporation in response to a 2007 mine collapse in which six miners were never found, further reinforce how to use this style of narrative to shape the story of a particular event.
In chapters 5 through 9, the attention is centered specifically on postcrisis narratives: “Blame,” “Renewal,” “Victim,” “Hero,” and “Memorial,” respectively. Each chapter is arranged in a similar layout that begins with an overview of the particular topic including a definition of it, and is then reinforced with examples that bring the chapter theme to life. Related and more nuanced ideas are introduced and specific suggestions and inferences are presented to help readers think about how to craft their own future narrative strategies.
The theme of chapter 10 is “How Narratives of Crisis Compete and Converge.” The authors make no secret that crises are most often complicated and seldom straightforward, which makes the development of an accurate and cohesive narrative an often-challenging task. This chapter begins with a discussion of how competing crisis narratives emerge, expand, contract, and then, typically over time, converge into one dominant narrative.
While chapter 11 is called “The Consequences of Crisis Narratives,” it largely serves as a summary for the previous 10 chapters. This section neatly brings together and synthesizes the overarching ideas presented earlier in the book and packages them in a helpful and contemplative way. The 13-page “References” section that follows is organized by the chapter in which the source was introduced. Anyone interested in learning more about the subject of crisis narrative will appreciate how conveniently this extensive information is presented.
Each chapter in this work could potentially be read on its own. This is a situation, however, where the sum is greater than the parts. The book as a whole is very thoughtful and well-organized with each idea that is presented relating to, reinforcing, and building on the others. Every chapter opens with a summary overview and ends with a conclusion section. The prolific use of real-life examples shared throughout the book adroitly provides structure to abstract ideas and makes concepts readily accessible as well as memorable. This book would be a welcome addition to any level college business communication or ethics classroom and will also be helpful to practitioners who want to think more deeply about crisis communication planning and strategy.