Narrative Mapping: A Visual Storytelling Process from Relational Spaces

How do we give voice to complex stories that defy words and the conventions of language?
These stories, often of trauma or other profound lived experiences, reside not just in our heads and hearts, but in every cell in our body. Embodied stories are layered, complex, and often chaotic. They vie for expression but lack a means or a format to accommodate them.

In this episode of Defining Moments, Dr. Marie Thompson, Professor of Communication at Wright State University, joins host Dr. Joe Bianco to share her pioneering work on narrative mapping. Narrative mapping is a form of visual storytelling born within a carefully cultivated relational setting. Through deep listening and guided questions, Marie creates space for participants to visually map their emerging stories, creating layered representations of their innermost experiences.

You can read Marie’s articles published in Health Communication at: · https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2414471 · https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1733228
You can see “Cracked but Never Broken,” Megan Westerfeld’s narrative map referenced in the episode, here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cracked-never-broken-barbara-geralds-institute-for-stor-bovzc