Let me start by telling you a story. A long time ago a white woman named Amuwata fell from the sky in my fathers village in Ghana. As the people gathered around her, they thought she must have been sent from the god’s, as she did fall from the sky. They allowed her into their village and gave her sustenance. Over time Amuwata began making love to the men and bearing children. Her bright skin was passed on through the generations and that is why on my fathers side we have lighter skin.
Good story right? It explains the Dutch and British colonization in a way that takes fact and fantasy and turns it into a story. Amuwata could have been in a plane crash, could have simply been a visitor, or could have been from a ship. Regardless of the pesky details, I propose to you reader, to think of which “reality” is more interesting to read and which “reality” is more believable; the woman falling from the sky or the colonizer.
Thomas King creates creates dichotomies with his two creation stories in The Truth About Stories, “one about how Charm falls from the sky pregnant with twins and creates the world out of a bit of mud with the help of all the water animals, and another about God creating heaven and earth with his words, and then Adam and Eve and the Garden” (Erikah Patterson 2:2). The biblical story is emphasized in Kings book and “The Earth Diver” story is made to be a fun story with possibly less import. We are pushed to believe the creation story that aligns with the colonizers personality. It is almost as if we are not given a choice as to what to believe, but driven by the Eurocentric way of telling stories deeply embedded in our Western culture. As Erikah our professor writes in the overview for lesson 2:2, “who is collecting the story and why?” The collection of the the biblical creation story has been anyone who has been touched by European colonization, other creation stories have not. The why in collecting those stories is to save us from eternal damnation by reforming us in His image. The importance and seriousness of one Man wielding power over the entire Universe has been ingrained into the very fibre of every aspect of Western culture. Our ‘gaze’ aligns with the biblical creation story and the biblical creation story has created our ‘gaze’. We are programmed in Western culture to believe a certain type of story. Drawing from parts of John Lutz’s introduction in Myth Understanding: First Contact, over and over Again, the biblical creation stories currency lies in the power dynamic it creates (being a hierarchical one), it’s performance in it’s a serious import and delivery, and it’s power in the character who speaks it, the colonizer. (7-14).
Going back to the question as to why King creates dichotomies for us, I believe it is to display the differences in the creation story, highlighting our nurtured bias towards the hierarchical one. Who created the world? One Man or all beings? I am from a colonized nation, Ghana. My Ghanaian culture is super religious the story of Christ was brought to us by the Dutch and the English. I was raised in the church and so I am too a part of this bias. As I recount the story of Amuwata, the white woman who fell from the sky and the generosity given her by the people of my fathers village I begin to believe that stories function on many, many levels.
Until next time,
Sarah Afful
Works Cited
Eliedonweb. “African Night Sky Timelapse Video.” (Image) YouTube, 1 October 2013 www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAEwwgCY_jY. Accessed 7 February 2020.
HomeTeam History. “How Ghana was Colonized.” YouTube, 26 March 2019. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p0HvG8RweI. Accessed 7 February 2020.
King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Peterbough:Anansi Press. 2003. Print.
Lutz, John. “Contact Over and Over Again.” Myth and Memory: Rethinking Stories of Indignenous- European Contact. Ed. Lutz. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 2007. 1-15. Print.
“The Trinity.” BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/trinity_1.shtml. 21 June 2011. Accessed 7 February 2020.
Hi Sarah,
What an excellent post! Your story ties in perfectly with the perceived dichotomy between creation stories and addresses the notion of what we are supposed to believe as real versus fantasy. I, too, am from a religious family, so I also have the same westernized “gaze” that you mention and fall under that bias. I also answered the same question, and I found myself contemplating the validity of specific stories hold over cultures.
As you mention, the story of God and his creation is a large part of the western culture even if you believe in God or practise a religion. It is merely a part of our culture, and as seen with this class, religion plays a significant role in education.
Going back to the main question, I agree with your view of why King chose to compare two different creation stories in which he wanted to emphasize the viewers’ biased perception of one story over the other. Concerning this point, do you think it’s wrong or incorrect to place a hierarchy over certain religious stories? Since we both come from religious families, it’s difficult to remove the already engrained belief system we are accustomed to, but yet, is your opinion/perspective changed or would you consider challenging it?
Hi Samantha! What a unexpectedly personal question. I would think on the surface that it would be easy to answer. In my following of one religion, I automatically put it above others. I think where it becomes tricky, is to be in a place of following Christianity and holding it as the guide post for my life, while also believing that there are other ways to believe. What I think has happened for me is a sort of picking and choosing of doctrines and the re-imagining of a God that aligns with my more spiritual, social scientific, scientific and political beliefs, which are in opposition to Christianity. It is tricky because it is an every moment affair, where I challenge my belief system constantly in order to stay open and progressive in my thinking. Staying open, for me is my truest philosophy.
Hi Sarah,
I liked the story you used to exemplify the various levels at which storytelling functions. In particular I found it interesting that the story does not include any direct references to colonization. I also agree that the stories that get told, or are pushed upon us re-enforce the ideologies of those in positions of power. The ways in which context plays a role in storytelling is something which I find very interesting. I am curious as to how the story of Amuwata came into being, was it one that was told to you, or did you create it yourself?
Sophie Dafesh
Hi Sophie and thank you for your response! The story of Amuwata was told to me from my Uncle who grew up in the the village of the story. It’s interesting, because now that I think of it, I never asked him where he got the story from. Maybe it doesn’t matter. I hold him in high regard and respected most of his opinions on life and ways to live. I always knew that when he spoke to me he was speaking more than the words that came from his mouth. He was speaking politically and metaphorically.