David M. Boje Antenarrative

Do you know what are the seeds of pre-narrative and
pre-story?

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Do you know what's the Seeds of story & narrative?

Antenarrative processes are seeds of pre-story and pre-narrative. They embody so many of these principles in action. One of their key strategies was understanding and harnessing the power of antenarratives. So antenarratives are like the seeds of stories. They're those fragments of experience, those fleeting thoughts and feelings and images that haven't quite coalesced into a coherent narrative yet. Oh, so it's like the raw material of storytelling. Whispers of potential stories just waiting to be discovered...paying attention to these antenarratives, it can offer valuable insights into the underlying dynamics of organizations and social systems.... listening for those subtle cues that might be revealing a deeper story.

It's noticing those subtle shifts in the wind, you know, before a storm comes. Or sensing a change in the energy of a room before anything is explicitly said. Imagine you're working on a project and you start noticing a pattern of antenarratives. Perhaps people are expressing frustration about not feeling heard. Or there's a sense of distrust brewing between teams. Y But instead of ignoring the red flags or dismissing them as just people grumbling, you know, you can use those anti-narratives as a starting point for deeper inquiry. It's about recognizing that these whispers of stories might be pointing to a larger systemic issue that needs to be addressed. And this is where those principles of CSI that we discussed earlier come into play. By becoming more aware of those whispers of stories, by listening deeply to their messages, and by engaging with them creatively, we can really tap into the wellspring of wisdom and inspiration.

What tools or techniques can help us navigate this world of antenarratives?
1.        antenarrative journaling,
2.        antinarrative mapping,
3.        3.antenarrative dialogue, and
4.        antenarrative art.

What is antenarrative journaling?It's the practice of regularly setting aside time to reflect on your experiences and noticing those fleeting thoughts and feelings and images that haven't yet formed into coherent stories. you can write freely, draw, draw, or even use music or movement to capture those antenarratives. It's like creating a space for those whispers of stories to emerge, allowing them to surface without judgment or interpretation. And that act of journaling can help bring those antenarratives into conscious awareness, making them more accessible for exploration and understanding.

What about antenarrative mapping?

Antenarrative mapping is a technique for visually representing the relationships between those different anti-narratives. You can use diagrams, mind maps, or even physical objects to create a visual representation of the patterns and connections you're noticing.

What is antenarrative dialogue?

It's about engaging in conversations with others with the specific intention of exploring those antenarratives. You can ask open-ended questions, listen deeply to each other's experiences, and really co-create meaning together. It's about using dialogue as a tool for collective sense-making, bringing those whispers of stories into the light of shared understanding.

What is antenarrative art?

Antenarrative art is a way of using creative expression to explore and communicate those anti-narratives.It could involve painting, sculpting, writing poetry ... So it's about tapping into those nonverbal experiencesintuitive and emotional aspects of those pre-narrative and pre-story experiences, finding creative ways to give them form and expression.

Here are the seven antenarrative storytelling processes (ASPs)?
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What is ANTEnarrative?

Antenarrative is the seed space before a coherent pre-narrative or pre-story emerges. It's the realm of generativepossibility, where stories are fluid and open to interpretation. Here, we explore the potential of tales yet to be told.

Our Approach

We believe in the power of antenarrative seeds that are pre-story and pre-narrative. Through workshops, discussions, and creative exercises, we help writers and thinkers tap into the rich potential of antenarrative seeds.

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Become part of a vibrant community of antenarrative artists, journalists, writers, and creative minds. Share your ideas, collaborate on projects, and discover new ways to map antenarrative processes.

Key Concepts:

1. Beneath: The underlying forces shaping organizational pre-narratives
2. Before: The pre-story state of retrospective sensemaking of organizational experience
2. Bets: The bets on the future (ante-up in poker), prospective sensemaking
4. Being: The spacetimemattering of vibrant mattering
5. Becoming: The emergent nature of organizational storytelling
6. Between: The spaces where multiple stories intersect
7. Beyond: The aliveness of the cosmos, the planet, and all species. Beyond is posthumanist.

See Recent List of over 70 Antenarrative Publications

Explore the latest research and thinking in antenarrative theory and methodology. Our work spans organizational studies, storytelling, and narrative analysis. This book is most uptodate treatment of antenarratives, the seeds of storytelling.

Co-authored with Rohny Saylors
Buy it on Amazon
This image from the Boje & Saylors book: