The Importance of Indigenous Storytelling

Throughout this course, we have been looking at the different stories and legends that exist within the diverse Indigneous cultures. From the lessons needed to learn about life to the warnings, they prompt the value of oral language and storytelling. One of the things I appreciated with this new knowledge is looking at these cultures in a more realistic, down-to-earth way. Especially as a student and future educator, I think we get too caught up in digesting all of the factual knowledge that we possibly can, and have this anxiety we have to spit it all out at the snap of a finger. Even when I was beginning my education journey, I was worried there was so much factual information to know, but this opportunity has given me a new lens to see these cultures. It is crucial to recognize that these cultures should not just be learned from through a textbook, but to recognize they too have their own stories that must be heard, to actively search out those stories and learn from them is a great opportunity. This allows for the Indigneous people to be more humanized I think, and often it allows us to learn more about them than facts ever will. "But don't say in years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You've heard it now" (King 60). I like this statement by Thomas King, it makes the reader understand that stories are all we are, we tell stories to others, talk about our day, and that these stories have an impact not only in our day but on our whole life. But it also talks about how stories can be manipulated depending on who is telling that story, not only on who they are, but their experiences, and perspectives that they bring into telling it. We all have a story to tell, we have heard many stories throughout our lifetime, and it is important to pass them down, it is important to recognize the value they have within our world.

As a future educator, I think it is important to collect and tell those stories, to promote these stories within our libraries, novel studies, or even the curricular teachings. I would love to do a whole literacy until on the different stories or legends my class can collect, and see some of the lessons or values they prompt within them. It is important to recognize and appreciate those differences within cultures. I would then have them retelling assignment for a story from their own culture or one of their choices to make it meaningful to them. I have this idea of not only collecting and telling these stories to my future students but seeing if any of my Indigneous students have stories they would like to tell, as I think it is important to give ownership to those students and their experiences.

Reference
King, Thomas. The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative. House of Anansi Press Inc, 2003.

Hi Gabby,

I loved reading through this post and getting to explore how this new lens has changed your views through this journey. I totally agree that it is wonderful to have the opportunity to explore these cultures in a more meaningful way, rather than memorizing facts and regurgitating them later on. There is so much more to learning than reading out of a textbook and I believe the content throughout this course has shown us just how beautiful this kind of meaningful learning can be. One of the best parts: These ideas could be so valuable within our future classrooms, being modelled to our future students.

This idea reminded me of Zitkala-Ša and Louise Erdrich’s arguments regarding the possibilities of cultural mixing and retaining continuity with the past while still living in the contemporary world; specifically, regarding new modes of learning in our 21st Century classrooms. While our access to technology can be a wonderful thing when it comes to finding knowledge at the tip of our fingers, this should not mean we simply forget about the traditional ways of teaching outside of Western culture, such as taking advantage of the world outside of our technology and textbooks and modelling to our students to appreciate these different modes of learning that may be unfamiliar to them.

Thanks for sharing, Gabby!

Thank you for sharing, Gabby!
I also want to recognize the importance of storytelling, but specifically on the importance of Indigenous literature. We’ve learned from this course that stories are crucial in keeping Indigenous culture and traditions alive. Indigenous story telling connects individuals to their culture, and traditions and it is their way to make sense of the world and pass down knowledge, values, beliefs, myths, legends and other sacred stories that are very important in their culture. However, as Gabby stated, King also discusses the danger of stories because they can be manipulated. Stories told by others are not always accurate, and they cannot be untold. That is why it is important that Indigenous people are given the platform to tell their own stories and let their stories be heard. Indigenous literature engages readers with ideas that are important for Indigenous people, including their traditions, connection to the natural word, familial relationship and the truths about their past. Indigenous writers are free to represent themselves and Indigenous perspective through the stories they write, and they have the power to make positive changes in their communities.

From the video we watched in class on Tommy Orange, he said that There There is a “novel of voices.” It is filled with stories of individuals who has different experience as Indigenous people living in the urban. The novel is a range of stories that shows the lives of individuals within a culture; it shows that Indigenous people have different experiences, struggles and ways of coping which challenges the idea that generalization and stereotypical views of Indigenous people. When we take the time to listen, read and understand the stories told by Indigenous people, we are able to expand our understanding of Indigenous people and communities and increase empathy for what they have gone through in the past and what they continue to go through today.

Hi Gabby,

I really connected with your last paragraph about bringing this knoweldge into our own classroom. I think it would be amazing if a whole unit could be done on indigenous literature. I think it would be an extreemly eye opening experience for the students to hear stories from their indigneous peers or other in the community. Considering most of these stories have been passed down orally, I think it would be interesting to have that aspect preserved in the classroom. It would be such an experience for them to hear the stories and then draw lessons from them instead of having it stuck on a page. It might make the story come to life a bit more because of the expression that can be used when telling stroeis orally. I also believe this would bring a lot of awareness and appreciation towards indigenous culture which is a really important thing to accomplish in the classroom. These stories do have value in our world and they should be shared as such.