The First Stories
The stories we tell about the creation of the Earth and the origins of humankind show us how our culture views the world, our place in it, and our relationships with the other living things which inhabit it.
Sharon Blackie • If Women Rose Rooted: A Journey to Authenticity and Belonging
For most of our human history, storytelling was oral. Myths were spoken or sung by diverse storytellers who could select and modulate their narrative to best suit a given audience, emphasizing some aspects and ignoring others.
The Oral Tale
The Secrets of Storytelling: Why We Love a Good Yarn
scientificamerican.com
it is not enough for people to know that they should drive on a certain side of the road, they also need to know that others possess that same knowledge. Stories may therefore act to ensure that all members of the group know, and consequently abide by, the “rules of the game” in a given society.
Daniel Smith • Why do we tell stories? Hunter-gatherers shed light on the evolutionary roots of fiction
Long before there was science, there were stories, and stories were the way in which we captured and socialized evidence.