Narrativity and professional communication - Folktales and community meaning

Narrative has been neglected in the education of professionals. The persuas ive power of narrative is essential to all the sense-making activities that govern the lives of professionals,for in sense making, they are regularly using narrative. The central example here is the O.J. Simpson legal defense that was organized within the narrative frame of Simpson's story. The auth ors compare his story with a famous Norwegian folktale to illustrate the ro le narratives play in amplifying the values of a community. Using Propp's s tructural analysis of the folktale, they deconstruct the Simpson trial, whi ch reveals implications of the narrative paradigm for the professional.