Knowing Our Peoples Through Our Stories

FNAT 102 – Arts One

Lecture

Spring/2010

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

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

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

An Insider’s 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

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

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

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

• Richard’s 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