With First Nations stories, I feel that it is meant to be
listened to and not be analysed or critiqued. I say this not with the idea that critical analysis should
not be done at all on the stories told.
However, given that First Nations people have long been silenced and
continue to struggle to have their voices and stories heard and told, simply analyzing their varied and complex stories is propagating colonizing
tactics of control and suppression.
Thompson (2007) highlights the value of “open dialogue” and quotes an
elder who emphasize the “value of listening” and the “trust” that is needed “to
listen well” (Yellow Hawk, as cited in Thompson, 2007). From this I see the process of an
ongoing conversation between the storyteller and her/his audience and the
importance of listening (from all angles) as a significant piece in the process
of storytelling as a whole. First
Nations people value the knowledge that elders profess in their stories and
also what “younger people, even children” (Thompson, 2007) have to offer in the
stories they listen to. Oral
storytelling traditions bear significant knowledge, “a distinctive intellectual
tradition” (Moayeri & Smith, 2010, p. 414), that challenges beliefs of the inaccuracies
and illegitimacies within oral stories, “oral histories” (Thompson, 2007). “Scientific Knowledge” is but a single
story and just as we’ve been encouraged to see that there are multiple stories
it is important to acknowledge that “traditional knowledge” will have its
merits (Moayeri & Smith, 2010, p. 415).
In reflecting on First Nations’ oral storytelling traditions,
I am reminded by my own experience with oral storytelling and the value that I
have for it. I think about other
cultures that strongly value this literacy practice in varying and complex ways
and relate it to Thompson’s (2007) words:
The oral tradition represents ‘the other
side of the miracle of language’…’the telling of stories, the recitation of
epic poems, the singing of songs, the making of prayers, the chanting of magic
and mystery, the exertion of human voice upon the unknown – in short, the
spoken word’…[the oral tradition is] a literature ‘of the people, by the
people, and for the people’ (Thompson, 2007).
I am
particularly drawn to the idea that oral storytelling traditions express
stories and “literature [that are] ‘of the people, by the people, and for the
people’”. I believe that it is
very fitting to the nature of its practice.
Conversely,
I also think about how this very practice is not always honoured and therefore,
practiced to its full capacity in our Westernized education system,
different literacies are privileged in
different institutions, which are controlled by a dominant power in each
institution….literacy is most often taught in schools as decontextualized,
technical skills…this disconnect between school literacy and home/community
literacies is holding back literacy development for children, particularly those
whose home literacies are undervalued and ignored by the schools (Moayeri &
Smith, 2010, p. 409).
Literacy
is still very heavily defined and practiced by the process of reading and
writing and this significantly challenges, perhaps to the extreme of eradication
of First Nations’ literacy practices of oral storytelling. What can become of these people and
other people who value this way of telling stories or passing on their
traditions, beliefs, and so on?
We’ve seen children struggle or be left on the margins feeling confused
or defeated when their learning styles and literacy practices are ignored. How can we be ethical and honour their literacy
particularities so that they are thriving instead of failing?
Thompson
invites us to think about how “the oral tradition could be fundamentally
superior to written literature or that texts that privilege the Indigenous
voice might speak more powerfully to Native students than literary
masterpieces” (Thompson, 2007).
Moayeri and Smith (2006) encourages us to “familiariz[e] ourselves and
valu[e] the diverse and multiple literacies that students of different cultures
bring with them [which] enhances the learning potential of those students and
that of the entire class” (p. 415).
They further provoke us to act on “diffusing the dominant power by
creating opportunities for learning about multiple cultures by deconstructing
existing [Westernized, white, middle-to-upper class, predominantly male
perspectives] text, using materials, or by viewing curriculum through a broader
lens” (p. 415). These are just
some possible yet very important suggestions to consider.
I end
this entry by repeating the questions raised by an anonymous contributor in A broken flute (Seale & Slapin, 2006)
because it speaks to the ethical practice which is necessary to consider
especially when working with children:
Will you help my child learn to read, or will you
teach him that he has a reading problem?
Will you help him develop problem-solving skills or will you teach him
that school is where you try to guess what answer the teacher wants? Will he learn that his sense of his own
value and dignity is valid, or will he learn that he must forever be apologetic
and try harder because he isn’t white?
Can you help him acquire the intellectual skills he needs without at the
same time imposing your values on top of those he already has? (Seale &
Slapin, 2006, p. 9)
References:
Moayeri, M. & Smith, J. (2010). The
unfinished stories of two First Nations mothers. Journal of Adolescent
& Adult Literacy, 53(5), 408-417.
doi:10.1598/JAAL.53.5.6
Seale,
D. & Slapin, B. (Eds.).
(2006). A broken flute. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press & Oyate.
