ABSTRACT
Today’s dominant societal narratives contradict our inescapable relationality by portraying humans as standing apart from, and as superior to, the rest of the natural world. A number of theorists contend that these narratives fuel practices that deplete our planet’s resources, increase economic disparity between the rich and poor, and intensify the oppression of minority groups. To the extent that our experience of being human may be lost or weakened in the face of such threats to our survival, these practices may be considered “crimes against humanity.” The power of “public narrative” to combat the grand societal narratives has been advanced and developed by community organizer, Marshall Ganz. Elements of public narrative, which comprises “a story of self,” “a story of us,” and “a story of now” are to be found within the dialogues of relationally-oriented therapeutic relationships. Arguing for the necessity of adding “a story of then,” which involved the historic and cultural background of relational narratives, the author presents a brief clinical vignette to illustrate how therapeutic relationships may work to neutralize and diminish the power of the dominant narratives.
