Research is a tool of science. Just like religion, just like culture, just like law, science can be used by the systems. But just like religion, just like culture, just like the law, science can be wielded by anyone. So if we are to be believable we need to wield these tools better than those who wield them against our freedoms. Hence the research is us wielding science.

We are exploring something societal so it makes sense that we use social science methods. Vivian vivian193 started us off with writing this powerful executive summary.

Then like everyone with a trade we need a tool. If we are going to listen to conversations in the digital world we needed something the equivalent of an astronomer with a telescope or a biologist with a microscope. We have Velma. Velma is our powerful lens into conversations.

But as you will see from the linked slides we needed to learn more about ourselves as the astronomers/biologists of social conversations than about the tool.

Also we are on the clock, the technology that powers Velma is something called CrowdTangle and Meta (the people who run your Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram) don't want tools that can give insights to social conversations, they bought CrowdTangle a few years ago and now they are discontinuing it. So we have a weeks till August 15th then our social media telescope will have a broken lens.

• Think about family - what does it mean to you?

• Think about ethnicity and nationality - why is it important to you?

• Think about belonging to a faith community - why do we feel so attached?

Finally, what are your reflections about what we have presented about the three emotive issues that can be used to build negative myths?

Research Questions:

Actors Mapping

1.     Which groups of actors have influence over online family values discourses in Kenyan social media spaces? Why?

Which communities are they a part of?

2.     Who do pro-family values actors legitimize, who do they delegitimize? How do they do it?

3.     What is said about pro-family values actors by different sectors? How are they legitimized or delegitimized?

4.     How do different groups of pro-family values actors shape online discussions? What tactics do they use?

Narratives Mapping

1. How are African Family Values being discussed in Kenya across different social platforms? Specifically, what are the predominant topics of these conversations, and which issues receive the most attention?

2. In the context of Kenya, which topics related to African Family Values are most frequently addressed on Social Media, which topics have the greatest impact, and why are these topics particularly influential or contentious?

3. What narratives and framing techniques on social media are shaping Kenyan perceptions of African Family Values? How do people talk about African Family Values? 

4. How are Queer communities and women framed?

• Is there something you identify as - for example, your tribe, race, religion, gender, and sexuality?

• How have these identities enabled your participation in community, society, or other grouping?

• How have these identities led to your exclusion from community, society, or other groups?

  
  

Finally, what are your reflections about identities? Why do people use identity to create outsider and insider dynamics? Why do people use our identities against us? Does this benefit the users/misusers of identity in any way?

Artist credits

Jacque Njeri, - Director, worlds (outer space), combining mixed media
Chela Chelwek, - Digital art, characters (DJ on wheelchair, Goddesses), worlds (city scape)
Sarah Ijangolet, - Digital art, Characters (non binary couple), storyboarding
Maria Barasa, - Animation, characters (goddesses)
Lynn Kanga - Paint on canvas, landscapes (waterfall and nature landscape) and 

Funding

This series of work was paid for by UHAI EASHRI for commons use. As such the above named artists should always be credited, the work should not be sold or used for any commercial gain and no derivatives should be created from the initial pieces.

We know at the end of this. You our "newly minted narrative workers" have to come up with your ideas to win people's hearts and minds and to take away the insulation for the system.

For this to happen you need to be able to challenge everything you thought was cast in stone. If you can change your mind then maybe society around you can change theirs.

Vivian and I will be sharing the weekly prompts. Seeing as we are being completely honest with each other, your prompts are very similar to the themes we are listening to on social media with Velma. If you engage with the prompts then you won't be lost when it comes to coming up with experiment themes and better yet to doing narrative change in your current work or in a narrative change experiment.

If you are interested in the key words we are using for social media listening you can see this amazing MIRO which was our collective brainstorm with other researchers or you can go back to the original slide I shared about Velma, we update everything there or better yet go to vivian193 Vivian's diary and read the beautiful blog that she wrote.

As they say in Nairobi, Kenya. "Comments fupi fupi", meaning don't overthink just drop your immediate thoughts in the comments

This Padlet has the following sections:

• Prompts 1,2,3...: Reflections and prompts from the researchers.

• What we're learning in the cohort: Notes and reflections from the learning sessions

• Research diary: These are written by the researchers; you will never have to guess or wait for a report we will document it here for you

• Our experiments: all about your narrative change work. Please upload it here videos, text, we want it all

• Accompaniment offerings : What to ask of the team that is accompanying you on the experiments

• Resources : Readings, short explainer videos

what belonging and identities mean to us, why we’re so attached to these groups (ethnic, nationality, religion, culture, family etc) ....

Belonging to me means community. I am a believer in community care and love and as such finding pockets of community in my chosen families based on things like nationality, sexuality, gender, and lack of religion among others gives me that sense of community.

What if our identities (based on gender, sexuality, nationality, culture, religion etc) mean we don’t ‘belong?’ How can our identities be weaponised against us? ...

Of,course belonging to one thing can mean exlusion from the other and I don't inherently see that as a problem, except when the exclusion results in marginalization and denial of access to certain rights and services.

For instance, we see the wealthy folks belonging with each other but are never excluded in the way that queer people belonging with each other leads to exclusion.

Systems of oppression have made belonging a marker of who is treated better than the other, driving most of us to the margins and that's how it's been weaponized.

This quote has triggered that for me... that as a person I am quite tired of explaining things around my identity.

For example, the expansiveness of gender and exploring my own gender or lack thereof as well as understanding the worlds political systems and how they affect my existence.

Throughout every phase of belonging, I am in awe of the similarities in our experiences, the bonding it births, and the solidarity the community offers in times of struggle, which at times feels perpetual, especially for the queer community.

Belonging also aids in my search for self within my Africanness. Being part of various communities, especially within the queer context, has deepened my understanding of my Africanness. It has shown me that African identity is not monolithic and that it encompasses a wide range of experiences and expressions, including those of queer Africans.

Being queer in a homophobic environment, means that I often have to suppress my authentic self out of fear of discrimination. Within pockets of the queer and Trans communities, I have however often felt seen and understood and held.

While the threat of exclusion is always present with every evolution of belonging, I embrace the Toni Morrison quote, “I stood at the border, stood at the edge and claimed it as central. I claimed it as central, and let the rest of the world move over to where I was,”  which helps me to center myself and my experiences, transforming the exclusion into a form of resistance.

How can our identities birth resistance?

Being excluded from the things that we all deserve as people leads us to all forms of resistance

- The joy of doing your project

- The ability to see human needs, fears and hopes for the issue you are tackling at the heart of your project.

- How to connect what you are working on and your current interests to do narrative change work. This includes seeing dominant narratives we can use to our advantage. It includes self-reflection on your positionality. Finally, it involves curating a narrative change campaign.

Āryā brings experience from her multiple pasts, being a user experience researcher and designer in a past life, from being a a journalist and storyteller. From being an activist, whose work has been through transmutation more than once.

Most importantly some experience and fun learnings from the 5 by 5 by 5 experiments.

To engage with Āryā come as you are. Come as yourself with where your journey finds you.

If possible:

- An open mind and heart.

- Honesty about what you need as a person.

- Readiness to engage with emotions

1. Creating desirable narrative edges & frames - I am available to walk you through anchorage of narrative practice and identification of deviations which would otherwise shift your amazing narrative experiments back to advocacy work. You don’t need to scratch your head too much on this, allow the process to be flawless. Let’s have some virtual coffee when you feel the shift.

2. Building Intersections - I am a believer that no movements exist in isolation, and so are the experiments.

My offer is to support you in deconstructing politics of single identity organizing and to explore intersectional cross-movement pieces of work which address our lived struggles. There is definitely something that the LGBTQ+ movement can learn or share with the Feminist or Climate Change movements. This way, we shall address the ’family’ connotations that are constantly weaponised against progressive movements.

3. Striking collaborations - While you shall embark on your individual experiments, I am on standby to help you create leverage across the different experiments. This shall be purely based on strategy and principle and shall not include matters finances (unless you find meaning for the same among your own selves).

I shall be available to prick that invitation to collaborate among your different experiments for maximised impact. This way, we deconstruct siloed processes that might polarise our amazing experiments for opposition infiltration. 

4. Wellness as a form of resistance - Everything said and yet to be done, let’s recognise the importance of having a minute to breath.

I am on standby to offer amazing and delicious menus of wellness that might just be ripe to settle your soul and mind.

1) Idea(s) storming-Collaborate with you to generate and refine ideas that align with your goals for social change.

2) Audience Research-support you to understand your target audience deeply to tailor your messages effectively.

3) Work with you to craft compelling narratives that resonate with your audience and drive your intended impact.

4) Work with you to identify the best platforms and channels to deliver your messages for maximum reach and effectiveness.

5)Support you in the effort to bring the totality of yourself to this work

• I will support you in planning your experiments including preventative planning.

• Protecting your devices and online accounts that will be used for this advocacy experiment.

• Managing account access in case you’re co-implementing with other people, or for those implementing at organizational level.

• We shall also explore informed consent if your experiment involves the use of other people’s personal information and/or likeness.

• I will also support you in choosing the most suitable platform for this experiment.

My support is not to tell you how to implement your idea but rather for you to begin a process of identifying what will work best for your individual context.

No request for support is too small or too big, neither will it be too silly or too serious.

I am committed to walk your unique journey with you, as best as I can.

I describe myself as a storyteller and custodian of people’s stories.   Currently living my dream as a full-time writer and am grateful for the opportunity of presenting queer stories from Kenya to the world through various platforms. Furthermore, I’ve run a storytelling podcast since December 2017 called Nipe Story and also occasionally work as a freelance journalist and trainer.

My offerings are laid out below:-

·        Creating desirable narrative edges & frames - I am available to be a soundboard for the experiments that have been conceived. With my years of experience as a storyteller using sound words and broadcast, I am happy to offer examples and insight from my journey.

·        Building Intersections – I look at this like a weaving process. I have a way of warping and wefting ideas and finding points of convergence.  Once again, I draw examples from my personal experience.

·        Striking collaborations – Happy to share opportunities and networks that can open doors for potential collaborations.

·        Wellness as a form of resistance – I consider wellness as a form of healing and a way of tapping into more forms of creative expression. We can only create or heal when we are rested.

Availability: Wednesday 28th August 2024

To book write to: kmwachiro@yahoo.co.uk

Sessions:

12:30-1:30 pm, EAT

3:30 – 4:30 pm EAT

Here are the links to the sources I used in the slides.

Scott Peck - The Different Drum (community building resource)

https://chattanoogaendeavors.org/service/community-building/stages/

JASS associates on Power

https://justassociates.org/what-we-do/power/

48m

Audre Lorde - on Power

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53918/power-56d233adafeb3

48m

This is an attempt at a short A.I assisted explainer

Este es un intento de explicación breve con ayuda de la inteligencia artificial.

This is part two of the short A.I assisted explainer. It explains

Narrative mapping

Actor mapping

Network analysis

Strategic communication