From Native North American Oral Traditions to Western Literacy: Storytelling in Education

This article discusses the implications of the dichotomy between Native North American oral traditions and Western literacy with special attention to storytelling and its implications for the definition of a school curriculum that would be inclusive of Native perspectives. Specifically, the author r...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Piquemal, Nathalie
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: University of Alberta 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ajer/article/view/54968
Description
Summary:This article discusses the implications of the dichotomy between Native North American oral traditions and Western literacy with special attention to storytelling and its implications for the definition of a school curriculum that would be inclusive of Native perspectives. Specifically, the author refers to the work of Eliade (1960, 1963) in examining the nature of myth as a particular form of narrative while addressing some critiques to his analysis of Native cosmology. This discussion enables the author to construct a critique of Egan's (1986) theoretical model of the use of storytelling in education from a First Nations perspective. Cet article traite des répercussions de la dichotomie entre les traditions orales amérindiennes et la tradition littéraire occidentale; plus particulièrement, des implications d'intégrer les histoires racontées dans un programme d'études scolaire qui incluerait des perspectives autochtones. L'auteure fait référence au travail de Eliade (1960, 1963) dans son étude du mythe comme forme particulière de narration et critique certains éléments de son analyse de la cosmologie autochtone. L'auteure se base sur cette discussion pour formuler une critique du modèle théorique de Egan (1986) sur l'intégration du récit dans l'enseignement offert selon une optique autochtone.