Welsh, Christine. “Voices of the Grandmothers: Reclaiming a Métis Heritage.” Canadian Literature 131.131 (1991): 15.
“Voices of the Grandmothers: Reclaiming a Métis Heritage.” is an article written by Christine Welsh about her acceptance of her Métis background through the oral stories and histories she compiled while researching Métis heritage. Christine Welsh is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria and a Métis documentary filmmaker and writer. Welsh’s article in Canadian Literature is about the importance of native oral history “as an ancient yet viable form of human discourse that encompasses the entire story of a people, both past and present”.
“Voices of the Grandmothers: Reclaiming a Métis Heritage.” is extremely evocative of the importance of oral traditions. The article is based on Welsh’s discovery of her own appreciation for her heritage and the culmination in a lifetime of work geared towards spreading Métis voices. Welsh brings up the idea that what we would define as myths are in fact “the embodiment of history as native people perceive it” an important revelation that helps us understand the importance of stories for Métis peoples. Story-telling leads to story-writing as we strive to put our narratives and history into writing. Welsh’s article looks at her research into her own ancestry and by understanding her own background she begins to learn about others. Welsh looks at how loss of language, due to children being removed from their families to be “educated”, and how these children were thus unable to understand their stories, and their heritage. Welsh outlines the need to “record and preserve this tradition” in order to help children and descendants understand these stories and myths. Welsh uses the example of her ancestor, Margaret Taylor, as an example of how her voice was lost because she left no written record and Welsh was thus left to rely on secondary sources and records in order to find out about her life. It is stories, learnt from others, from books, and from family members which help us learn about our heritage.
Welsh’s article is extremely important in looking at both the importance of oral traditions and the importance of writing these down in order to preserve them so that others can learn and remember them. According to Welsh native women are “engaged in creating a new history, our history, using our own voices and experiences. And as we raise our voices — as we write, sing, teach, make films — we do so with the certainty that we are speaking not only for ourselves but for those who came before us whom history has made mute” (Welsh 24).
Works Cited
LaRoque, Emma. “The Métis in English Canadian Literature.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 3.1 (1983): 85.
McGonegal, Julie. “Reimagining Canada: An Interview with Joseph Boyden on Metis Identity, Storytelling, and Public History.” Postcolonial Text 7.2 (2012): 8.
Hi Saarah,
I was actually just about to comment on your post. Glad you saw the same connection I did when comparing both our articles.
There definitely is a digital divide between the demographics who have access to new media technologies and the ones who don’t. And while the ones who live in regions without much access, or no access at all, to such technologies continue to fall behind, I would argue that it’s only a matter of time until they get in touch with these technologies. I think it’s really easy to catch up and learn when it comes to new media tech. But then again, a solid grasp on the dominant language (typically English) is often required and not knowing the language well enough adds on to the challenge of learning new media tech, as addressed in my Ginsburg article.
You outline the benefit of technology in your post, and I think when used properly it serves to be more beneficial than not. Welsh was able to piece together information from secondary sources to learn about her heritage. Technology can help us preserve heritage, history, etc, but I think what’s also important is creating archives with powerful search enginges that will allow us to find exactly what we’re looking for. Sure, we can store information electronically, but we also have to develop ways in which said information won’t be burried on top of other things and lost. For example, I bookmark and save a lot of pages and most of the time I don’t ever visit the bookmarks ever again. It’s turned into clutter and I’ve hit the point where I know I should just delete everything, but I can’t because I also know there’s information I’ve stored in there that may be of use in the future. The point is, it’s great we can preserve things electronically but we also have to create tidy archives and search engines that will allow us to access the things we have electronically added as well.
The Christen article I covered is a great example of how we can overcome the barriers when it comes to using new media tech. A diverse group of people (academics, nonacademics, Natives, non-Natives, etc) were consulted and were added to the team in order to create an archive that satisfied the needs of all. All it really takes is a helping hand.
Hi EJ,
I agree with you. The digital divide can be moderately easy to overcome but the language issue is much harder to fix. Perhaps, along with organization and creating databases which effectively catalog this knowledge it would be beneficial to as translate it into other languages and create a program or digital media center which saves these stories, knowledge, and cultural facts for the future while also retaining the languages they were originally meant to be seen/heard/discovered in!
I also completely concur with you about a search engine (and I also have a ridiculous number of bookmarks I can’t bear to delete but will most likely never go through). Although I am sure simple search engines are capable of finding things eventually perhaps what is really required is a large database with a specialized search engine which allows people of all communities access and helps them find things that they are looking for (and some that they might not be looking for but would appreciate nonetheless). As well I think another problem with digital media being used as an education tool is that there are only so many perspectives available, for example above Welsh had to rely on certain narratives, but could have learnt different things from other narratives had she had access. The Christen article is a great example of a way to create digital media archives which can help people learn more by involving a diverse group of people in a project.
I really enjoyed reading your articles!
Saarah
What a powerful article. I loved that you chose to highlight women as a central piece of the oral tradition. Harry Robinson was such a huge part of my writing during this course that it was great to read about women shaping the oral tradition.
I think it’s also incredibly poignant that you have looked at “how loss of language, due to children being removed from their families to be “educated,” contributed to an inability to understand the language and thus a loss of heritage. My group has been looking at digital literacy in the aftermath of Indigenous culture losing it’s language. I would argue ithat in the age of technology, these stories that link Indigenous people to their heritage can be preserved via electronic means – recording, videoing, or blogging. Check out our bibliography! https://canadaconference.wordpress.com/about/
It’s beautiful that women in Indigenous culture hold such a central and pivotal role in history. I think that we could all learn something from their matrilineal culture.
Warmly,
Hannah
Hi Hannah,
Thank you for your comment!
While reading this article I myself was surprised at learning about the loss of heritage through education – in my mind education was always associated with gaining knowledge, learning more, and learning more about the world. It was so surprising to realize that education could in fact make someone be unable to learn about their heritage and their culture. I think your point about digital literacy is so so importance because their needs to be some way to document stories and handed down aspects of any culture – especially when it is in danger of being lost or forgotten due to education. And I thoroughly agree with you, there is so much to be learnt from women in Indigenous culture and its so important to be able to find ways to share that knowledge.
I especially love the last quote of the article and think it fits in perfectly with both of ours points (I used a small portion above as well but I think the whole quote is important):
“Native women will be rendered historically voiceless no longer. We are engaged in creating a new history, our history, using our own voices and experiences. And as we raise our voices — as we write, sing, teach, make films — we do so with the certainty that we are speaking not only for ourselves but for those who came before us whom history has made mute. We have a responsibility to our children and our people to ensure that the voices of our grandmothers are no longer silent.
And so the voices of my grandmothers are alive today, for they speak through me”
As well I think that – apart from writing because that does often make teh stories more permanent and less likely to evolve – the act of filming these stories being told and the beauty in the spoken word is also so important and things like blogs, online videos, and other aspects of technology available to us can make sure that all aspects of these stories remain intact for future generations to learn from!
Regards,
Saarah