Summary of Dialogue
INTRODUCTION
An omnipotent God. Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden. Chances are, even if you are an atheist, you understand these allusions. In North America, the Judeo-Christian creation story is prevalent and almost everybody is familiar with the basic aspects of it.
However, most of us know little to nothing about Native creation stories. Why does this matter, you might ask. Well, creation stories are cultural touchstones. Often sacred to the people who believe in them, they provide invaluable insights into a culture’s worldview: how they see and interpret the world around them, their beliefs about life.
Edward Chamberlin states in If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories, that we can only find common ground if we listen to other peoples’ stories. What better place to start than with creation stories? For our class conference we decided to look at a number of First Nation creation stories, as we believe they are an essential starting point for our understanding of Canadian Aboriginal culture.
Our research goals are twofold. First, we aim to shed light upon some of the insights the creation stories provide us about First Nations worldview and ways of knowing. Second, we attempt to find how we might incorporate this knowledge in the Canadian educational system, whose curriculum is still quite Eurocentric. By doing so, we hope to find interventions that will lead to a more inclusive Canada.
POINTS OF INTEREST
> Creation Stories & Childhood
“The fact that… early childhood education [is] important for creating cultural beliefs tells me that creation stories are derived from the knowledge that is instilled in us at a young age” – Jessica Pellegrino
During our discussion, one thing that became apparent was the connection between childhood and creation stories. We noticed that most of us encounter creation stories when we are very young and discussed the implications this might have.
A creation story recounted to us in childhood is often the first brush with our own traditional beliefs and culture for many of us. We noted that stories told to us as children can be powerful as they often stay with us throughout our lives, in many cases; they are also what define us. However, it was noted that given this impressionability of children, it might be disadvantageous to know just one story. Jessica Ramsey pointed out that it is best to expose children to all kinds of information – especially when it comes to culture. To quote her, “this learning should be accessible to all.”
> Creation Stories & the Natural World
When comparing and contrasting the four First Nation creation stories, we couldn’t help but notice the emphasis they each placed on the natural world. A few of the stories we researched were variants of the ‘Earth Diver’ myth, in which an animal is the one who dives into the primal waters to fetch a bit of mud – which is then transformed into land.
This told us two things. First, it showed us how animals are treated with reverence and respect by all the Tribes. In most of the creation stories, they are treated as equal partners in the creation of the world instead of subordinates. A comparison to Noah’s Ark was brought up, and this further emphasized how the animals in the Native creation stories had more individuality and personality. Most of them also often engaged in dialogue with the Creator-Trickster figure, which solidified their roles as equals.
Second, it shed some light on the First Nation’s relationship with the land. As Tarana Rana noted, the land and earth is viewed as something sacred in these stories compared to the Eurocentric tendency to view land as commodity. This is especially true in Earth Diver myths where a bit of land is precious and has transformative potential.
> Creation Stories & Aboriginal Pedagogy
“Perhaps Aboriginal pedagogy could be expanded to include some First Nations creation stories…”– Nicolas Thomson
It has been said that the notion of pedagogy is colonial or Eurocentric in origin; however, Aboriginal pedagogy can be used to draw attention to Aboriginal ways of knowing.
One of the goals of incorporating Aboriginal pedagogy is to get students to connect with the natural world. In our discussion, Nicolas (whose team researched creation stories from all over the world) pointed out that many creation stories note that nature was created before mankind, thus emphasizing its crucial role for the existence of humans. By focusing on this similarity, perhaps teachers could draw connections that would make other stories seem less foreign to non-Aboriginal students and more relatable.
Another point raised that is pertinent to this discussion was how incorporating First Nation creation myths in our school system can instill students with a sense of personal responsibility when it comes to the environment. To quote Susie Carter, “If Aboriginal stories are planted in our Canadian cultural beginnings, even if you don’t believe in [them], perhaps we stand a better chance of protecting our environment as citizens of Canada rather than our different groups.” Even if viewed as secular stories, creation stories clearly have a lot to impart.
INTERVENTIONS
One intervention is to introduce Aboriginal Creation stories to children as early as possible in pre-school and kindergarten. This can be done through incorporating First Nations storybooks in the class, inviting a local First Nation group to lead a storytelling session in class and showing them interactive videos. Growing up, familiar with both their own and Aboriginal stories, we hope students will not have to ‘choose’ one story as being true over the other. Rather, they grow up being able to accept their own culture and beliefs without having to delegitimize others in the process.
Another intervention is to make alterations to our history textbooks. History is very often Eurocentric in nature, and many textbooks do not explicitly state that Aboriginal histories predate Canadian history by thousands of years. By incorporating pre-colonial Aboriginal education in our textbooks, and perhaps even including a variety of creation stories in the mix, students can learn Aboriginal perspectives on issues like land, nature and spirituality.
Another intervention can take place in English classrooms where students learn the importance of oral storytelling and regard it as being on par with written literature. This can be done by treating Aboriginal Creation stories and oral histories as a ‘text’ and developing analytical strategies for recognizing allusions and symbolic knowledge that are not Eurocentric.
Finally, the last intervention would be to create an accessible digital collection of Aboriginal creation stories from across Canada. While we were doing our research, it was difficult for some of us to find creation stories from certain Tribes and many of the websites we did stumble across were hard to find, poorly designed and often had broken links. By creating a one-stop digital database, this increased accessibility will make it much easier for teachers to incorporate it in the classrooms as a learning resource.
CONCLUSION
Our discussion has revolved around the importance of Aboriginal Creation stories and the insights they impart about Aboriginal ways of knowing, especially when it comes to their relationship with the land and the natural world. We noted that most creation stories are often linked with childhood – as this is when most of us first encounter them and the importance of storytelling for children. Finally, our discussion touched upon Aboriginal creation stories in the classroom and we offer a number of interventions on how to incorporate them in the Canadian educational system. Edward Chamberlin urges us to find common ground through stories and we hope that a thorough understanding and appreciation of the different Aboriginal creation stories around BC and beyond will lead to more accepting, inclusive society.
FUTURE AREAS OF RESEARCH
As our literary landscape grows more and more digital by the day, the gap between ‘written literature’ and ‘oral stories’ shrinks. One possible area for research is exploring how this will impact the Canadian literary canon. Is it possible to digitize our canon? How can Aboriginal oral histories and creation stories be incorporated in such a medium?
This led to another line of enquiry. As more creation stories are accessible online, how will this affect Aboriginal traditional ways of performing these sacred stories? In our research for our current topic, we read that certain parts of creations stories are often sacred and recited during ceremonies, following certain customs and protocols. Can this be successfully translated in digital media? Does digitization impact religious or sacred structures? What challenges does this raise for a community?
Finally, another research area we could explore are ways to incorporate good listening skills in the classrooms today. A vital part of partaking and understanding oral tradition is the ability to listen (not just listen to respond, but listen to hear and understand) and pay attention. This is particularly relevant today as many studies claim that social media and the like have reduced the average attention span.
WORKS CITED
“Aboriginal Pedagogy”. University of Alberta. 1999. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
An Ojibway Story of Creation – Pic River First Nation. YouTube. Get to Know Program, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
Carter, Susie. “What Did We Use? Annotated Bibliography – Comments”. In the Beginning. UBC Blogs, 4 Apr. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015
“First Nations Books.” Kidsbooks: For Children. Kidsbooks, 2007. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
“Native American Earthdiver Characters.” Native American Indian Earthdivers. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
Pellegrino, Jessica. “What Did We Use? Annotated Bibliography – Comments”. In the Beginning. UBC Blogs, 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015
Ramsey, Jessica. “What Did We Use? Annotated Bibliography – Comments”. In the Beginning. UBC Blogs, 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015
Rana, Tarana. “What Did We Use? Annotated Bibliography – Comments”. In the Beginning. UBC Blogs, 7 Apr. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015
Thomson, Nicolas. “What Did We Use? Annotated Bibliography – Comments”. In the Beginning. UBC Blogs, 7 April. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015