Step 4 Activities
1: Identify your Narrative Frames
In a similar process to identifying your narrative communities, please identify your narrative frames and provide a brief description of each frame.
| Frame | Description | |
| F1 | Indigenous Land Defenders | Indigenous people protect the land and the earth. |
| F2 | ||
| F3 | ||
| F4 | ||
| F5 |
2: Linguistic Analysis of Frames
In order to identify Metaphors, Logics inside a Frame, we can apply this linguistic analysis to a framing expression, for example, a quote, tweet, or the header of an article. (There might be times when some of these elements are not always present or visible.)
- Verbs – what action is being represented? Is it static, dynamic, fast, slow, “serious”, “playful”, etc?
- Hidden assumptions – what is represented as positive, and what is negative? How can we tell? (Hint: think about the role of adjectives)
- Imagery and metaphor – what figurative language, artful comparisons, and very basic metaphors are present? What images does the language conjure in the mind?
- Subjects and objects – who is the active agent, and who is passive? Who is doing the work, and who is being done to? Who has the power? If there are no agents, why?
- Power – to identify the Power and Potential of these frames, you can apply the following questions:
- Is this conversation in a growing phase?
- Does it exist and endure over time?
- Does it allow for diversity of the conversation?
- Are nodes consistently engaged in the conversation?
Explore Further:
Read this article on the metaphors of war and this article on conspiracy theories. Using the above linguistic analysis can you identify the key frames that these articles point to in the discourse.
We move on to conduct a deeper linguistic and semiotic analysis of these communities and identify recurrent and persistent narrative frames. Each of your narrative frames can be correlated to specific communities which is detailed in your community map. Refer to the table below. You must identify the metaphors and logics related to these recurrent frames. In the column that identifies the power within the conversation (overall presence) and potential for evolution across knowledge and system spectrums, make a note if it is low, medium or high.
3: Deeper linguistic analysis: Your Recurrent Narrative Frames
For this exercise, you will systematize the content of the frames identified from the discourse analysis above. In addition to the frame name and description, you must identify the metaphors and logics that you have found; relate the narrative communities that correspond to the frame, and finally, according to your own interpretation, describe the power of the conversation and the potential for evolution across knowledge and system spectrums. The first row is an example of how to complete this table.
| Frame Name | Description | Frame, Metaphors and Logics | Communities | Power / Potential | |
| F1 | Land Defenders | Indigenous people protect the land and the earth. | Frame: Life defenders The deeper logic here is “the defense of Indigenous rights is the defense of all life.” | A. Water Protectors B. Povos Indígenas D. Join Scientists | Power – Medium Potential – High |
If you want to go even deeper, you can also map the frames onto your System-knowledge (or similar) framework – see this annex.