Jan 25, 2021 

Hello reader! 

Welcome back! While we were gone I immersed myself in Edward Chamberlain’s If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories.  I found this book to be very engaging and was a space that allowed me to shift my mindset into critically engaging with literary texts again! However, with this being said I would like to share my perspectives on 3 key points that Chamberlain highlighted in the final chapter of his book. The first one being the invalidation of Indigenous stories as historically incorrect (231). Second, is that through ceremony we believe, but through believing can provide common ground across cultures (234). Then the last point is the effects that a  new title would have on our current understanding of the world (). For me, all these points are interconnected and you can’t have one without the other. 

Then let us start with the first point.  Throughout this book, Chamberlain makes it very clear that there is an “us and them” dichotomy and he solidifies in the final chapter. He begins by telling the Gitksan story about the grizzly and how it was part of their creation story. However, when the Gitksan went to the courts to assert their claims the judge denied them (232). This is not something new to me, I hear countless stories of people going to court to settle land claims, tell their stories about residential schools and so on. But, the courts do not accept it unless there is significant evidence. So, when the Gitksan needed to also have geological proof that was also aligned with their traditional story it made me wonder what needs to change in order for these stories to be accepted as historically correct? Jo-ann Archibald also talks in-depth about Indigenous storytelling from an educator’s point of view and the importance it has to people of all ages in a Youtube video called Dr. Jo-ann Archibald on Indigenous Storytelling

This then easily brings us to the second point which is: Through ceremony, we believe, but through believing can provide common ground between cultures (234). I find that this is interesting because earlier on in Chamberlain’s book he reminded us that stories “give meaning and value to the places we call home” (7) and they also “they also give us things to believe” (8). This slightly confused me because each place has its own culture that has its own complex set of ceremonies which is what they need to believe in. So, how can ceremony be the common ground between cultures when they are all very diverse? Or, Chamberlain is saying that we are all really the same on the inside because we all have that inherent will to believe before we can understand. 

These two points then lead to the last point I would like to touch on. Which is, what would be the effects a new aboriginal title would have on our current understanding of North America?  Chamberlain says that it would completely change the way we view aboriginal people, our understanding of the colonial world and change the purpose of our nations (242). This then made me think how much (re)learning people would have to do as a Nation to come to accept the new ways. This then reminded me of how Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene discuss issues of land sovereignty and if Indigenous peoples elders can hear them on their podcast called All my Relations. This podcast begins to uncover what it would be like if Indigenous people have more autonomy of their being.  

In conclusion, reading If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories has taught me that indigenous stories are not just part of their culture, but it also connects them to where they are from and helps them believe in something. But, they also use it as a tool to connect their living and non-living worlds. 

Works Cited 

Chamberlin, Edward J. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories. ebook. Vintage Canada, 28 May 2010. 

“Dr. Jo-ann Archibald on Indigenous Storytelling”. Youtube, uploaded by National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education, 3 October 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rSHifM35i4

Keene, Adrienne and Wilbur, Matika. “Who We Are.” All My Relations, www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/who-we-are. Accessed 25 January 2021.