Building Narrative Power

We must engage in changing the structure of society to eliminate health inequity. Structural social change is a central requirement to enable action on the root causes of health inequity. One way that we can engage in structural social change is by building narrative power. Narrative power is the ability to influence those who set the incentives, rules, values, and norms that shape society and human behavior.1 These rules and norms are often connected to the unobserved root causes of health inequities. This course examines how narrative power can expose harmful dominant narratives and disrupt the influence they have on how we practice public health, and the decisions that determine our ability to more effectively confront the root causes of injustice that produce health inequity. It explores the need to develop compelling narratives for public health, in alliance with committed cultural organizers and community organizers to sustain those narratives.