A nexus analysis of textual material about the volunteer experience at the ministry of storytelling

Abstract

This project analyses the Volunteer Handbook from The Ministry of Storytelling by isolating three separate social actions and the many different factors that contribute to the social actions. The topic of this paper was decided by my own interest in the foundation and my experience as an intern at the foundation for ten weeks in early 2024. The foundation works with language development within multiple subjects. The aim of this study is to investigate various discourses present within the foundation and how the discourses connect to the role of the volunteer. The theoretical framework is a nexus analysis which provides a complete overview of the historical body, interaction order and discourses in place. The Volunteer Handbook is further analysed as a policy document, which includes language policy research. The textual data is excerpts from the Volunteer Handbook that either fit into historical body, interaction order or discourse in place. Additional data is from the official Ministry of Storytelling website, their YouTube channel and my own field notes. The results are divided into three social actions: the decision to volunteer at The Ministry of Storytelling, signing a document with ethical guidelines and the reflection and enforcement of the Volunteer Handbook.