Final answer:
The Narrative Paradigm is a theory from the communications field, following a post-positivist tradition, which sees humans as natural storytellers and places emphasis on narrative rationality as a means to understand reality and convey truth.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Narrative Paradigm is a theory within the field of communications, which suggests that human beings are natural storytellers and that the persuasive quality of any narrative depends upon its coherence and fidelity. This theory follows a post-positivist tradition, challenging the dominant rational-world paradigm that conceptualizes communication as a process of transmitting information with the goal of persuasion through logic and reasoning. Instead, the Narrative Paradigm views narrative rationality as the basis upon which people understand their reality, make decisions, and argue for their viewpoint of truth.
It was proposed by Walter Fisher in the 1980s, it emphasizes the role of storytelling (narratives) in human communication. This approach is based on the idea that people make sense of complex information, assess the credibility of communicated messages, and are persuaded not just through arguments but also by the stories they find compelling and resonate with their own values and experiences.
The Narrative Paradigm aligns with current approaches that recognize the value of Indigenous oral histories and narrative methods in exploring human experiences and social, cultural, or environmental influences on literacy experiences. This paradigm also relates closely to the fields of anthropology and sociology, where it has influenced the methods of storytelling and analysis especially as they pertain to the representation of marginalized perspectives and the cultural context of narratives.