Hello Peoples.
Grammar is not my favourite subject, but Indigenous culture and literature is fascinating to me and I’m quite excited to learn from this course. I expect this course to be challenging and time-consuming (after looking at the syllabus and because I read slow) but at the end of the day, it is an experience that I know will broaden my perspective and my ability to challenge the norms that we have in society.
About me. I love people. I love stories. I am curious. When I meet someone new, I am always thinking where they came from, how they came to be here…what their story is. I think that behind each story that we hear, are other stories that are forgotten and hidden. I think that stories need to be remembered because they are moments that define people for who they are. The tradition of oral story telling is one that is essential in the Indigenous culture, one that is integral to passing on the traditions and culture from generation to generation.
Canada is a such a great place for collecting stories. For it is here that we meet people from all around the world. Some of them looking for a better place to survive. Some of them, just looking for a place to park their money. Either way, they have a story, and I can’t wait to find out what. Canada is a country born out of immigration and as such the interaction with the Indigenous population is one that needs to be better understood.
One of the sites that I like to surf around is kickstarter (besides etsy and groupon) and I found this kickstarted a while ago that I would like to share https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jodymread/hitting-the-road-round-two?ref=nav_search. I think that it is through projects like these where Aboriginal people learn more about their own culture and are able to celebrate it.
During the time that I’ve been in Canada, it is in Squamish and in the Okanagan where I’ve learnt most about the Aboriginal people. I remember that I attended a conference where Jeanette Armstrong and Greg Youngling spoke and I would like to also share a poem that she read during the conference. “Artifacts” http://livinginthelibraryworld.blogspot.ca/2013/03/native-poetry.html
My educational background is in mathematics, and so I do not have a lot of previous material or knowledge about Indigenous culture or literature apart from English course I took in my first year. As such I look forward to working with you and learning from you!
Qihui. (Kiwi)
p.s. I couldn’t really figure out how to attach a visual here, but I have a link to a picture that I would like to share. http://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/09/booksOFlife-class.jpg
Hello Qihui, good to meet you. To attach visuals, use the ADD MEDIA button on the top left hand side of your tool bar. For assign hyperlinks – write the name of the link, highlight and then click on the icon that looks like a chain link in your tool bar – when the page pops open, paste the url. Good luck!
Hi again, you need to reset your settings so that comments do NOT need moderation. INSTRUCTIONS: Open your “Settings” in your dashboard and under “before a comment appears” make the adjustments so anyone can post without approval. SECOND – ensure that under “Other comment settings” – that comments can only be made by registered users – thanks
Hi Qihui,
Just a hint to help with inserting the picture. If you click “Edit” on your post it will allow you to edit what you’ve already done. At the top of this page, right under your title, there should be a button that says “Add Media”. It will have a small icon of a camera and music notes on it. If you click this, is will allow you to add a file, such as a picture, from your computer onto your post. I believe that the picture will go where your cursor was before you hit the “Add Media” button. I hope this helps! I’m pretty new to blogging as well, so we are all figuring this out together.
Charlotte
Thank you Charlotte 🙂
Hi Qihui
Thanks for sharing! I was also drawn to this course because I’m interested in exploring indigenous narratives, in part because of the medium they use – oral story telling instead of written literature. I don’t have any prior experience with this subject either, so I’m really looking forward to learning more! The fact that we shall examine the power of story was also another selling point for me and I’m quite enjoying our readings on Chamberlin. I felt that the poem you shared ties quite well into his notion about the defining power of stories – the artifacts themselves aren’t as important, it’s the stories that are connected to them that add to their value and meaning. I’m curious to know – what was this conference you attended?
Hey Qihui, I like the fact that you picked up on the condescension from Westerner’s that Chamberlin gets at with his piece. It is remarkable to think that Western cultures see ‘oral’ cultures as primitive considering that story telling is still such an important part of life for them as well. Many children in Western cultures are told stories by their parents and grandparents, some of them even following similar tropes to the stories that circulate in aboriginal communities. I think we see this especially within creation stories, where verbs such as ‘sculpt’ and adjectives such as ‘perfect(ion)’ surface in both Western and aboriginal narratives. The use of terms such as these indicates to me that both cultures give great emphasis to the skill and the care of the creator in their stories, and I’m curious if you found any other connections that indicate a smaller gap between Them and Us than is generally presumed?