Class: Ways of Telling-Indigenous Litterature
Heart and Land:A Personal Story
Indigenous story telling is deeplyrooted in place, (in Land but as we learned from KarynRecollet, Land is land/water/air/sky/underwater/underground) – and place ismore than a geographic location or a mark on a map. Tell a story based on yourown lived experience that reflects your attachment to your history and place.Start with a home or location you have loved but tell the story from the pointof view of Land.
Some prompts to consider: What aboutthis place resonates in your memory, emotions, or imagination? What voices echowhen you think of it? When is the story taking place or are you looking back ata time?
For this assignment you are theLand/Place as storyteller. You are writing from the perspective of Place. Consider theresponsibility that comes with storytelling, and the delight of passing on apiece of history that might otherwise be lost. Construct your narrative usingthe themes, concepts and strategies weve studied in class or some of your owninvention we havent yet explored. Employ standard academic research methodsusing print, media, or digital sources, or Indigenous ways of learning thatinclude phoning home, or sitting down with a family member for a cup of tea anda long talk. Remember to ask for permission before using someone elses words,and acknowledge in customary academic ways the sources you cite, whetherwritten or oral. Above all be respectful and true to your spirit and the spiritof the story you are telling, for these are the gifts of the story and thefaithful Indigenous Ways of Telling.
This story may be written, narrated asaudio or any form that you imagine. 2- 3 pages long.
Source to use :
Steel Trees, FishSkins, and Futurity Cyphers by Karyn Recollet