5] \u201cTo raise the question of \u2018authenticity\u2019 is to challenge not only the narrative but also the \u2018truth\u2019 behind Salish ways of knowing \u201c(Carlson 59). Explain why this is so according to Carlson, and explain why it is important to recognize this point.<\/p>\n
As Carlson explains in his article, imposing European concepts of authenticit\u201d onto Salish history challenges the fundamentals of Salish culture. The narratives which Salish people share are sacred, and the importance which is placed on their accuracy ensures that mistakes are not made during their telling. Authenticity, as we understand it, relies on material evidence. Applying this mode of judgement to Salish storytelling is not only pointless, but harmful to our understanding and acceptance of cultural diversity. The Salish stories emerge out of a culture which values accuracy in storytelling the same way in which we value it in our historiography. Carlson writes that \u201cit is difficult to imagine a context in which a Salish person could intentionally modify a historical narrative… the community would not allow such an individual to get away with it even if they tried.\u201d To impose a Western concept of authenticity is to discredit the strength of Salish tradition.<\/p>\n
Further, the status of Salish oral histories is strong enough that it \u201ccannot be easily challenged by either indigenous people or Non-Native newcomers and their competing chronologies of interpretation.\u201d (59) By applying European methods of authentication we are supposing that these methods, and our opinions which derive from them, have any bearing whatsoever on Salish perception of their own histories. This may be an example of Europeans granting our opinions more merit<\/a> than they actually possess. Salish stories belong to the Salish people. Salish concepts of truth exist independent from our scrutiny. To instill our own truth-telling devices onto Salish stories is to evaluate something which is not ours<\/a> to do this with.<\/p>\n It is important to recognize that we do not need to analyze the validity of Salish stories, because our evaluation of them ties in to a larger characteristic of Colonial-Indigenous relations. I am referring to the idea that the Indigenous culture has to be identified and made valid according to the value system of the colonizer. In reality, it is not necessarily our responsibility to do this, and I believe in doing so we assert that the colonial culture is inherently more valid than the indigenous culture.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Works Cited:<\/p>\n “Enjoy Coast Salish Territory.” Sonny Assu. Web. 17 Feb 2014.<\/p>\n “Eurocentric.” Miriam-Webster Dictionary. Web. 17 Feb 2014.<\/p>\n Paterson, Erika. \u201cLesson 2:3.\u201d\u00a0ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genres<\/em>. University of British Columbia Blogs, 2013. Web.77 Feb. 2014.<\/p>\n Carlson, Keith Thor. “Orality and Literacy: The Black and White of Salish History.”\u00a0Orality and Literacy: Reflections Across Disciplines.\u00a0<\/em>Ed. Carlson, Kristina Fagna, & Natalia Khamenko-Frieson. Tornoto: U of Toronto P, 2011. 43-72.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 5] \u201cTo raise the question of \u2018authenticity\u2019 is to challenge not only the narrative but also the \u2018truth\u2019 behind Salish ways of knowing \u201c(Carlson 59). Explain why this is so according to Carlson, and explain why it is important to recognize this point. As Carlson explains in his article, imposing European concepts of authenticit\u201d onto […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/stepandroid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}