Storytelling: How to Become Who You Are Through Problem-Based Learning

This article discusses how problem-based learning combines with what I from Nietzsche call “becoming who you are”. It argues against thinking of problem-based learning merely as a method that integrates theory and practice. Using Foucault’s genealogy and Arendt’s notion of storytelling as theoretical anchor points, I suggest that problem-based learning is a personal process of self-formation with important political and ethical implications. Through Foucault and Arendt, I argue that problem-based learning is helpful in teaching people how to think. Problem-based learning provides an occasion for self-overcoming through understanding and work creatively with the world’s multiplicity. I discuss concrete implications of using history and storytelling in problem-based learning in my field, organization studies. In the last part, I discuss how storytelling can inspire writing differently about organizations.