“To raise the question of ‘authenticity’ is to challenge not only the narrative but also the ‘truth’ behind Salish ways of knowing “(Carlson 59). Explain why this is so according to Carlson, and explain why it is important to recognize this point.
Right after this quote by Keith Thor Carlson, his article says that outsiders should not be afraid to ask about Salish authenticity, but that we should be diligent and educated in our questionings toward Aboriginal people (Carlson, 59). Much of Carlson’s article explains why this is so and why it important for people of any race to understand this concept.
For Salish people, stories are history, and sacred at that. They are life within culture and taken very seriously. Carlson notes that if the teller of a story were to forget a piece of it “it was better not to tell it at all for it was dangerous to omit scenes and to shorten myths” (Carlson, 59), not only for the teller but also the listener. So comes this point of “authenticity”. If one is to challenge the authenticity of story in Salish culture, they are challenging the history and entire being of that culture. Challenging authenticity it as if to say one is lying and therefore making up the past. Carlson rightly addresses that authenticity is a notion that should be handled with caution and sensitivity because the ‘truth’ of Salish culture sits at the core of their ways of knowing.
“Authenticity” brings us back to the conflict between orality and literacy. Is orality credible in contrast to literature? Again and again the question is asked “how can you prove it if it is not on paper?”. Carlson attempts to draw this question to a close by noting stories by Bertha Peters and Harry Robinson, both of whom “inject literacy (and therefore history) into the Aboriginal past in a way that they probably believed non-Native listeners would understand” (Carlson, 63). Robinson’s story tells of Coyote and his twin brother and the paper given to them by God, while Bertha Peter’s story tells of the three chiefs who failed in their obligation to teach the people how to write when a God like being instructed them to. There is an understanding in these stories that literacy was indeed a part of Salish culture, and that the impending loss of that literacy consequently ended in “alienated lands and governing authority” (Carlson 48). Carlson highlights these stories to prove that European perception is not completely accurate in their views of Aboriginal culture being without literacy, but rather literacy existed within Salish culture and was taken or lost from them.
Works Cited:
Carlson, Keith Thor. “Orality and Literacy: The ‘Black and White’ of Salish History.” Orality & Literacy: Reflections Across Disciplines. 43-72. Print.
Struckman, Robert. “The Sounds of Salish” Project Word. 16-18. Web. http://projectword.org/sites/default/files/Struckman-Blueprint-MayJun04.pdf
http://www.native-languages.org/salish-legends.htm
Hey Sarah, I like how you explore the connection between history and authenticity. We know that ‘history’ is written by the side that wins, but truly it is much more profound than that. The historical narratives of people across the globe, both settlers and natives alike, all conglomerate to make our shared history. To discount a history that has not been passed on in the same manner as ours is preposterous, especially when our insistence on strict record keeping is a relatively modern notion. You also note that literacy did in fact exist in Salish cultures, yet they preferred storytelling to writing. I wonder where we would be if it had been the other way around…
Nicolas Thomson