“Stories are the essence of a culture” is one of the tenets of the group behind Living Cultural Databases. Starkly, the group notes that “once the stories are no longer re-told, the culture is dead.”
On oral heritage and the importance of storytelling, the group writes:
Stories are the essence of a culture. For indigenous peoples they inspire, offer analogies, teach practical skills and an understanding of how to live in fragile or hostile environments. Furthermore, the recounting of myths and narratives are vital for maintaining ethnic identity and group solidarity. Stories have social functions, representing the collective memory of the people, combining the past with the present and attaching meaning to space and time. They encapsulate the deeper beliefs and values of a culture, promoting role models, ways of living, behaving and believing. In summary, storytelling is at the heart of social life, personal and cultural identity. Once the stories are no longer re-told, the culture is indeed dead. … Narrative can be the tool to guide a group’s development and the cultural choices they face. In other words, the reinterpretation of folklore is important for shaping the cultures of the future.
The group’s goal is to to create Living Cultural Storybases for the communities themselves.
The author of the blog, The Written One, echoes the concept of storytelling as culture and storytelling as the means to express culture:
The ideal of a storytelling culture is one where individuals are not blocked from self expression, where the ideas emerging from that situation are shared in an organic (for want of a better word) and democratic way. For it is these ideas that make up the tapestry of that culture overall, just as each bird in flight makes up the beautiful tapestry of a soaring flock. As such, this tapestry can truly claim to represent the ideas and beliefs of the people involved. This allows for a rich storytelling culture overall.
(Thanks once again to Stephanie West Allen for making me aware of this site).