Indigenous storytelling
Introduction
Everyone interprets storytelling in their own way. Whenever I hear the term storytelling, I think about the fiction stories that my mother told me when I was a child. However, storytelling in indigenous cultures is entirely a different thing. The art of storytelling in these cultures is embedded in history and oral traditions. Storytelling is a way of passing the knowledge of the body’s mind and soul to the next generation. Indigenous cultures have a special connection to the earth, and thus storytelling is a significant part of sharing these connections. A storyteller in the aboriginal societies was well trained and ordained to share the knowledge of the clan to the younger generation. Gilroy and Fernandez believe that instilling the quality of indigenous storytelling in the mainstream media is a way of Survivance and preserving the importance of the indigenous way of storytelling. Contrary to them, I believe the crossbreeding of the traditional and modern dialogue neglects the authenticity of the traditional culture. In this study, I refute Gilroy’s and Fernandez’s perception of storytelling about the film smoke signals.
Traditional storytelling is all about spirituality. It is an essential aspect of the lives of the indigenous people who believe that their environment was sacred. The indigenous people, especially the red Indians, thought that natural features such as mountains and valleys, were sacred and had a connection with the human soul. Some even believed that these features had special healing abilities or were the abode of the gods. That is why storytelling was essential to pass such knowledge and to preserve the way of life and culture of the indigenous people (Sium, Aman, and Eric 14). In the movie smoke signals, the characters Victor and Thomas are manifested as modern Indians. Though they are made specifically to represent the indigenous people, they no connection to the aboriginals, and the manner of speech is not even close to the real Indians who practiced the art of storytelling. Victor tries to teach victor how to be an authentic Indian, but he is far from being a real Indians. Thus it cannot be assumed that the depiction of the modern media preserves and manifests the way of storytelling of the aboriginal people.
The real Indians used the art of storytelling in a very different manner. The narration was a way of teaching the young generations about Indian morals and the purity of the land. It is ironic when victor tells Thomas that he speaks like a medicine man, yet the actual Indians’ way of speech was more like that of a medicine man. Each story had its moral lessons, and that is why it was told to pass the knowledge of the land to the younger generations (Iseke, 562). Though Gilroy believes that the depictions of Indians in the movie smoke signals preserve the culture of storytelling of the aboriginal people, it is nowhere close to the art of narration of the native people. The notion destroys the real importance and purpose of storytelling among the Indian people.
Conclusion
The aboriginal people used the art of storytelling to transfer relevant knowledge of the mind soul and body in relation to the environment. Stories were considered as spiritual channels that held together with the people and wisdom of the land. Thus cross breading the traditional way, and the modern way of storytelling does not build up the original purpose of the art but destroys its purpose and meaning.
Works Cited
Iseke, Judy. “Indigenous storytelling as research.” International Review of Qualitative Research 6.4 (2013): 559-577.
Sium, Aman, and Eric Ritskes. “Speaking truth to power: Indigenous storytelling as an act of living resistance.” Decolonization: indigeneity, education & Society 2.1 (2013).