Knowing Our Peoples Through Our Stories

1
Knowing Our Peoples Through Our Stories

• FNAT 102 Arts One
• Lecture
• Spring/2010

2
A Book with Three Nested Lessons

• Origin Stories as the basis for life, knowledge
  and values
• Transmitted history and lived experience as a
  lens into community life
• Critique and questioning of the scientific
  worldview

3
Origin Stories( Remembering home and reality)

• How Son of Raven captured the Day
• Aint-tin-mit ( Son of Mucus) and Aulth-ma-quus
• Aint-tin-mit returns home (getting married)
• Aint-tin-mit and Biodiversity

4
Storied Reality

• Whole of life is characterized by relationships
  that are inherent and demand beneficial
  reciprocity
• The physical and spiritual world are one
  (heshook-ish tsawalk)
• Encouraged to depend on neighbours (aphey)
• Respect (isaak)
• Family community maintenance vital in the face
  of he-xwa

5
An Insiders View(base on lived experience)

• Oosumich
• The protocol of spiritual transaction
• Testing the continued validity of origin stories
• Hahuulthi
• Governance
• Decision making
• Resource responsibilities ownership
• Tloo-qua-nah
• Putting the Pachitle in Potlatch
• Remembering REALITY as remedy

6
Learning to be Quus

• Living in the house of Keesta
• Being taught to tupsweese
• Aware of protocols
• Living amongst extended family
• Preparing to perform
• Witnessing at feasts

7
Pachitle

• Rooted in origin stories
• Remembrance
• Feasts take care of every human need,
  politically, socially, economically and
  spiritually
• Spiritual preparation necessary for host family
• Food prepared in the homes of host relatives
  (abundance is a spiritual blessing)
• Spiritual witnessing to spiritual activity
• Gifts a legal seal of that witness
• Esteem and spiritual power results from providing
  for ones community
• Note contrast to purposes and competitive
  interpretations outlined by anthropologists

8
A Critical Tone

• Reflective reaction to his own experiences and
  the position to these views from the social
  science communities
• Counters the assumptions behind the methodologies
  used by scientists who studied us
• Richards sharpness/tone as a reflection of the
  same criticism of orthodoxy that Harris
  identifies
• Remember Kulchyski (2000) speaks of
• Focusing on knowledge that comes from within
• Questioning the dominant standards of inquiry
• Legitimization exploration of traditional
  knowledge
• Turning to the qualitative