Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit

Abstract

Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit. By Jo-ann Archibald/ Q'um Q'um Xiiem. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2008. Pp. xiv + 176, preface, acknowledgments, bibliography, index. $99.00 cloth, $29.95 paper.)In this insightful look into the storywork of Coast Salish and Sto:loo elders, Jo-Ann Archibald combines traditional ways of looking at story with a scholarly approach to documentation of her sources. She tells us she wanted "to demonstrate that Indigenous knowledge systems could be investigated from an Indigenous perspective with rigour acceptable to the academy" (5).Archibald is Associate Dean for Indigenous Education in the Faculty of Education at die University of British Columbia. As a member of the Sto:lo (Coqualeetza) community and a worker in First Nation educational programs, she received trusted story knowledge from elders. Working from what must have been countless hours of interviews, she examines the uses of story in those communities. She coins the term "storywork" to describe the way story is used to reach the hearts of listeners. Storywork is required of both the teller and the listener in order to make meaning happen. She quotes the elders, who say that listening requires "three ears: two on the sides of our head and one that is in our heart" (8).Archibald spends much time talking about her relationship to the communities she studies, and she explains the extremely careful way in which stories were set down. During the collection of stories for a First Nations Journeys of Justice curriculum project, curriculum elders read over the transcripts of their stories and were able to demand rewriting until they were satisfied that the words echoed their own. Each page had to be signed by the teller as evidence that it had been approved. The rights to the stories remained with the teller, except for the curriculum use.Archibald includes texts for two First Nations stories and summarizes two more, but this is not a tale collection. She is interested in how and why stories are told. She particularly examines the potential use of traditional story in the educauon of today's First Nations children.Mentors guided her work: Chief Khot-La-Cha, Dr. Simon Baker, Tsimilano, Dr. Vincent Stogan, Kwulasulwut, and Dr. Ellen White. Chapter 1 talks about the teachings she had from them. She references as well the thinking of many other First Nation scholars. Chapter 3 reveals the insights Archibald gained into storywork from working with members of the Stori Nation, especially with the Coqualeetza Elders at Sardis, British Columbia. Learning to listen with patience, Archibald spent much time with these elders, recording their wisdom on tape and in her journal. …