The Power of Evolution
In the essay “Cree Poetic Discourse”, the author Neal McLeod addresses an intellectual problem that the western academic writing approach harms the indigenous Cree narratives. According to McLeod, the Cree narrative process, which involves poetic thinking, embraces new possibilities and keeps changing (9). This evolution process not only depends on various occasions of speaking but also depends on different storytellers and audiences who absorb stories, thus allowing Cree poetic discourse to possess dynamic feature (McLeod 9). Such dynamic narrative approach compresses space, like Neal McLeod, said, “Like the colors and shapes in the sky, like the folds and contours of water and lakes. (14) ” In order to fully
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The scholar McLeod himself, being a living example, uses Cree narratives to write English poetry, “Even though the stone is gone, the story lives on. Old stories give our bodies shape, and guide the path of sound, like trees guiding the wind. (13) ” Mastering two or even more languages enables knowledge to carry on and pass down to others who are from different cultural backgrounds; this process of transmitting old culture through languages in a new form enhance one’s original culture to evolve. In the field of academics, the power of evolution, to a certain degree, influences the lifespan of an existing idea. Knowledge of a language can be a power to change the atmosphere of indigenous academia. For the Cree, maintaining traditional cultural connections while absorbing western education empowers them to solve “narrative violence” in western academia. For instance, a well-educated Cree can become a scholar and write articles in English to address the intellectual problem of Cree culture. And if this person feels a lack of empathy engaging in poetic narration he or she still have access to consult the old Cree people. Besides, western scholars are open to new thoughts and incorporate creative space into indigenous scholarly writing system.
In Zadie Smith’s essay “Generation Why”, her view about social
Richard Wagamese, the award-winning author of the novel Keeper’n Me (2006) as well as various other literary pieces such as Dream Wheels (2006), Medicine Walk (2014), and Indian Horse (2012), was born in 1955 in Northwestern Ontario and is from the Wabaseemoong First Nation. Through the combination of Wagamese’s fictional writing blended with components of his personal life in Keeper’n Me specifically, the fifty-nine year old author has been recognized for this and other phenomenal works through a variety of diverse awards in his years of writing including being the recipient of the 2012 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Media and Communications. His debut novel allows audiences to get a glimpse of what this writer is capable of and furthermore his personal life as he incorporates many fascinating concepts into it while keeping it a light read.
In American Indian Stories, University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London edition, the author, Zitkala-Sa, tries to tell stories that depicted life growing up on a reservation. Her stories showed how Native Americans reacted to the white man’s ways of running the land and changing the life of Indians. “Zitkala-Sa was one of the early Indian writers to record tribal legends and tales from oral tradition” (back cover) is a great way to show that the author’s stories were based upon actual events in her life as a Dakota Sioux Indian. This essay will describe and analyze Native American life as described by Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories, it will relate to Native Americans and their interactions with American societies, it will
The Strongest Blood tells the story of two cousins in an Indigenous setting, living in the Northwest Territories. Anyone who has read The Strongest Blood knows how it centers in on the teachings of Indigenous peoples and the struggles and conflicts that they face involving their land, spiritual beliefs, and economy. Van Camp’s extensive use of literary techniques directs the spotlight on the two major themes of Indigeneity, and economical conflict while creating an interesting environment for the reader.
Idle No More: A Critical Exploration of the Six Demands of Idle No More And the Importance of Meaningful Action by the Federal Government
Indigenous literacies are used to communicate certain messages that are meaningful to the people in that individual community. These literacies are used to communicate stories, laws, maps, songs and dances to their own society. These forms of literacies are seen as being crucial to the cultural community as they are used to convey the social practices that should be handed down through the generations. Indigenous literacies may be interpreted in western cultures as art but they are actually narratives and recounts that Indigenous people generate. Indigenous literacies derive from different worldviews and connection to a range of components. They are then shaped and reiterated through knowledge systems that highlight knowing one’s stories of kinship. Indigenous Literacies are seen in forms such as on tress, bark, wood, sticks, rocks, carvings, in the soil and on bodies and
Stories that have been passed on for decades by Indigenous people have many cultural values and meanings that can help teach and guide others. In his book Earth Elder Stories: The Pinayzitt Path, Alexander Wolfe’s includes three stories “The Sound of Dancing,” “The Orphan Children,” and “Grandfather Buffalo,” that reveal important Anishinaabe cultural values. In the story “The Sound of Dance,” the value of family sacrifice is shown as a strong Anishinaabe cultural value. In the story “The Orphan Children,” Wolfe expresses the importance of orally transmitted knowledge as a core Anishinaabe cultural value. Then in “Grandfather Bear,” the keeper of knowledge emphasizes the importance of the connection to the past, especially within family relations in Anishinaabe culture. There are many cultural values that can be found in these three stories told my Alexander Wolfe. Family sacrifice is one of many values shown throughout these stories, specifically in the story “The Sound of Dancing”.
Leanne Betasamosake is a popular Indigenous writer who’s had growing experience throughout her life writing numerous of books in multiple of genres, which speak particularly upon Indigenous issues alongside of the playful stories and poetry she enjoys sharing. Leanne is part of the Annishnaabe community and proudly acknowledges her ethnic background and her tradition. “This Accident of Being Lost” written by Leanne Simpson successfully attempts to discuss the underlying issues surrounding Indigenous people and government conspiracy, she views the different types of ways in which love can be expressed and how the mind is deceiving in terms of forgetting old love. The author relates real life issues to her poems written in her book attaching a deep connection. One of the reasons why I chose to write about this book was its connection to one of many discussions we all have, there’s living moments of significant stories, lyrics and poetry she includes in her book. Leanne hasn’t failed to give an authoritative author reader connection in really making one explore the emotion in the book and understand the factual meaning behind her words.
Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach incorporates words and phrases from the Haisla language in an effort to reflect the protagonist’s culture while also satiating the cultural curiosity of a non-indigenous audience. The incorporation of Haisla is one of the mechanics of the Glorious Northern Gothic novel, as it provides a reformation of traditional Gothic conventions through an Indigenous lens. The Haisla language is presented through the protagonist’s narration and is usually introduced in an instructional tone or story. Italics mark most of the language in the text; however in some instances the words are not italicized or are only implied. It is through this process of marking that the use of Haisla language moves beyond a mode of integrating the protagonist’s culture into the story and provides a critique on Non-Indigenous Canadians’ appetite for Indigenous stories: what language the text contains and what language is omitted defines what parts of the culture Non-Indigenous Canadians have already consumed or are permitted to consume.
Speeches are an iconic and widely used means of expression for our political leaders, particularly when discussing issues of importance such as Indigenous Australia. Paul Keating’s ‘Redfern Speech’ and Kevin Rudd’s ‘Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples’ are the two political speeches which I will be analysing in this paper.
Don’t be confused when an Indian tribe is called the Chippewa or the Ojibway because they are the same tribe. French settlers could not pronounce Ojibway correctly so they called the tribe the Chippewa. Have you ever wanted to know about the Ojibway Indians? If you read on, you will learn many interesting facts about this tribe.
Like a coin dropped between the cushions of a couch, traditional oral storytelling is a custom fading away in current American culture. For Native Americans, however, the practice of oral storytelling is still a tradition that carries culture and rich history over the course of generations. Three examples of traditional oral stories, “How Men and Women Got Together”, “Coyote’s Rabbit Chase”, and “Corn Mother”, demonstrate key differences in perspectives and values among diverse native tribes in America.
“What I’m about to tell you, Corporal, cannot leave this room. Under no circumstances can you allow your code talker to fall into enemy hands. Your mission is to protect the code… at all cost.” In the movie, Windtalkers, this is how a commander wants his marine to treat the paired Navajo code talker. That is, if it’s necessary, his marine could kill the Navajo, just like abandoning one of his properties. Even in the mid 1900s, the Native Americans were still treated not as human beings, but rather, machines; therefore, it is not hard for us to imagine how even more frightening the Native Americans’ circumstances were in the early days when they were first colonized by the western settlers. In Deborah Miranda’s “Indian
"Alaskan Haida Stories of Language Growth and Regeneration." The American Indian Quarterly, vol. 30 no. 1, 2006, pp. 110-118. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/aiq.2006.0002.
Protest poetry is any form of poetry which has, as one of its main functions, the objective of finding fault with some existing current event or circumstance. This kind of poetry often focuses on the misdeeds performed by a government upon its people. It can also be a reaction to some overriding societal ill, like war or racism. The most effective forms of protest poetry combine the qualities that make up any great poem with a genuine passion about the subject. Protest poems can stimulate a reader 's interest and empathy, and sometimes spur him or her into action. Protest poetry focus on values and ideas for example the gay rights in Australia people are fighting to get there thoughts out so
Western and Indigenous knowledge systems differ in values, habits of mind and practices; however, there has been productive cross-cultural collaboration that integrates global vision with social and cultural dimensions. Productive collaboration addresses past contradictions in the coevolution of society, science and environment. Ten Canoes is a cross-culturally collaborative film that was meant to portray the Yolngu community in its true representation in an attempt to bridge the black and white Australian cultural divide by sharing its traditions and values with a non-Indigenous audience. Important spiritual and cultural information is shared throughout the passage of the film that frames and contextualizes the cosmology of the Yolngu people (Clothier & Dudek, 2009: p. 85). Dutch-born director Rolf De Heer and Yolngu director Peter Djigirr consolidate to show modern audiences the “community’s cultural continuance and to connect between individuals and the community both past and present” (Clothier & Dudek, 2009: p. 86). Additionally, Ten Canoes is only spoken in the Yolngu’s Indigenous language. For Yolngu audiences, “the use of their own languages in Ten Canoes highlights the vibrancy of a continuing linguistic heritage” (Clothier & Dudek, 2009: p. 87). Simultaneously, audiences that cannot understand the language of the Yolngu people read subtitles that create a critical intimacy to engage in “passion and reason while seeking understanding” (Clothier & Dudek, 2009: p.