Tag Archives: The power of story

Braiding Histories

Dion, S. D., & Dion, M. R. (2004). The braiding histories stories. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 2(1), 77-100.

I started reading the work of Susan and Michael Dion because Heather McGregor recommended it, on hearing of my enthusiasm for the power of story. This sibling pair has published many articles, and it was difficult to choose just one for this weblog. I’m very interested in Susan Dion’s work with adolescent girls, their self-image, and their stories, but as far as I can find out she has presented that work verbally at conferences and it has not been published. If anyone knows differently, please let me know!

I identified with the position that the Dions find themselves in, culturally. They are of mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous heritage, and they ask themselves the following questions – “Can you be Aboriginal if you didn’t grow up within an Aboriginal community? If you had no access to Aboriginal languages, to cultural practices, are you still Aboriginal? What does it mean to be Aboriginal?” (78). Those are important questions that many urban Indigenous students struggle with.

Like the previous article that I posted, the authors here provide stories to their audience, so that the audience can ponder the meaning and learn from the stories. The stories show the realities of Aboriginal life, and the systemic discrimination that Aboriginal people still face.

A Few Stories (of many)

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Mancini, R. (2007). Telling their stories. Education Forum, 33(2), 15-17.

“Take [this] story. It’s yours. Do with it what you will. Tell it to friends. Turn it into a television movie. Forget it. But don’t say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You’ve heard it now.” -Thomas King

This article opens with King’s thought-provoking quotation. The meaning that I take from it is that there is power and responsibility in sharing stories, in being a storyteller or an audience.

Mancini then quotes startling statistics about violence against Indigenous women in Canada, including the fact that, in the last decade, more than 500 Indigenous women have gone missing in Canada, and that Indigenous women are “eight times more likely [than their non-Indigenous counterparts] to be killed by their spouses after separating, to be forced into a life of drugs and prostitution, or to contract HIV” (15). These statistics are particularly relevant to me, as my students are all female, but they should be repugnant to all. The article then offers the stories of women who have been traumatized by the colonial government, through loss of status, residential schools, and other horrors. Although the article isn’t specifically about education, it relates to the idea of culturally responsive schooling:

“Kerrie and Sara were educated in systems where not one of their teachers looked like them or taught in a manner that was culturally like their own. In class they were often asked to provide the “Indian” opinion, as if they could speak for all Indigenous peoples… Janie struggled within the mainstream education system. She didn’t see how the knowledge she gained there related to her daily life. Her classes were not taught in her native tongue, and the traditional ways of her people were “add-ons” to course curriculum” (16).

What will the audience do, since they’ve heard these stories now?

“Storywork” – Add it to the lexicon

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Archibald, J. (2008). Indigenous storywork: Educating the heart, mind, body, and spirit. Vancouver BC: UBC Press.

This ebook can be accessed via http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/docDetail.action?docID=10348906

I’ve been looking at ways for non-indigenous teachers to teach more sensitively to indigenous students in mixed-culture classrooms, to improve teacher-student relationships and to increase indigenous student retention. ‘Story’ is something that continuously appears – the power of story to re-frame history, to teach, to draw students’ attention. It’s a way that indigenous philosophy can become more fundamentally entrenched in the learning of students. However, story, like any other cultural tool, must be handled sensitively. This book is written expressly to that purpose. It informs readers of the nuances of story – whose story is this? Can it be shared? What’s its purpose? It also helps readers learn to effectively use story as a teaching tool – storywork. It looks at how story can be incorporated into the classroom at every age level (from primary to adult). Best of all, it tells some stories!

This book will be helpful to any teacher wanting to include more Aboriginal viewpoints and education into their own practice. Chapter Four, “The Power of Story to Educate the Heart” (pp100-117) is particularly relevant to teachers of secondary and adult learners.