What Is Story Sovereignty & Why It Matters
Most people either have never heard of the term “story sovereignty” or they can’t truly grasp the actual meaning of it. At Nalu Books, we believe that stories are more than “just stories.”
They carry history, language, memory, grief, relationships, humor, and different ways of how the world is viewed. Stories help children understand where they come from, the futures they can imagine, and who they are. There is power in stories, but unfortunately not everyone has the same platform and power to have their stories heard.
Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities around the world have had their stories told about them, but never by them. Stereotypes, renaming of their lands, their cultures appropriated, and their histories filtered through colonial records. Their stories walk the line, often crossing the lines of being prejudice with one sided point of views.
Enter story sovereignty.
Story sovereignty that communities have the responsibility, right, and authority to tell, interpret, protect, and share their own stories. Most of their stories are carried down from generation to generation orally, communicating their histories, cultural knowledge, identity, relationships, and self-determination. It stands up to the notion that other people can tell their stories about them, but never with them just to have content for someone else to consume. This is the overall purpose of story sovereignty.
For families, story sovereignty gives us a powerful question to carry into every bookshelf, read-aloud, and curriculum choice:
Who is this story about and who gets to tell it?
More than Represenation
Beyond understanding that representation in everything we consume matters, story sovereignty is more than that. When we talk about representation, we automatically go to seeing a book cover with someone from different cultures, family structures, abilities, or identities. We are taught to accept that diverse representation on the cover of the book as being fully authentic, when it most likely isn’t.
Although books can include characters who are BIPOC, queer, immigrants, or from another marginalized community, it could still hold stereotypes throughout the book. It could use these communities as a decoration. It can place a community in the past, while ignoring the people who are living today.
Stories can be about people, without being accountable to them. THAT is often what people overlook when they select “diverse” books to share with their children.
Follow the Voice Behind the Story
Story sovereignty asks us to consider looking further into the voices behind the page. Think about the power behind the narrative and the relationships that shaped that work.
When a book tells a story about a people, culture, place, or history, look at who created it.
Who wrote the text? Who illustrated it? Who translated it? What relationship do they have to the community represented? Do the author’s note, acknowledgments, sources, or backmatter show care, research, and connection?
This is not about expecting perfection or saying people can only write about their own exact lives. It is about paying attention to perspective and power. Communities that have been misrepresented or silenced deserve opportunities to speak for themselves.
Seek books by community-rooted creators when possible, and use trusted librarians, educators, reviewers, and community-led book lists to find recommendations.
Read Many Stories, Not Just One
No single book can represent an entire people.
One title cannot tell us everything about people living in diaspora, BIPOC communities, queer families, or any other group of people. When one book is asked to do that work, it can easily become a “single story.” Most literature curriculums and history textbooks center a “single story” point of view, that often becomes automatic representation for the community the story is about.
Build your bookshelf like a conversation instead. Pair historical accounts with contemporary stories. Include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biographies, fantasy, graphic novels, family stories, science, art, and humor. Look for stories that show struggle and resistance, but also imagination, community, celebration, and future-making.
A fuller shelf helps children understand that people are never one thing—and that every community contains many voices.
Begin with curiosity
Story sovereignty is also about recognizing boundaries. Not every story, piece of knowledge, image, or cultural practice is ours to repeat, teach, or use. Respect can mean listening, citing sources, supporting community creators, and accepting that some stories are not meant for us to share.
You do not have to rebuild your entire bookshelf overnight. Start with one book and ask:
Who is this story about?
Whose voice is telling it?
What does this book help us understand?
Whose voice might we seek next?
At Nalu Books, we seek stories and learning resources that honor people as the tellers of their own histories, keepers of their own knowledge, and dreamers of their own futures.
Because reclaiming our stories is not only about correcting what has been missing.
It is about helping children open a book and say:
This story knows us.
This story respects us.
This story lets us speak.