it's an interesting point of view. He made me redo several papers because I cited non-Native writers. His reasoning: if we are talking about what it means to be Native American, what does a white man know? Since there are lots of blond blue-eyed wannabes in Santa Fe I sort of see his point. On the other hand, he himself was half Lebanese and this point of view invalidates his own father's opinion, a man who spent a lifetime in Laguna.
I suspect that this is one of those issues where context is everything -- someone already familiar with the culture woud spot a tall tale told to an anthropologist for example. It's an area of controversy in the field, one the one hand effusive websites praising "Indian wisdom" of no specific origin, on the other a kind of political correctness that says you aren't entitled to speak out unless you're a government-certified indian. That's where the remark comes from. On 8/6/05, Kevin Graeme <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On 8/6/05, Dana <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > One of the big things in Native American Studies is recognizing the > > genuinely native american sources. > > This is an interesting comment. On the one hand, we do want to > understand the culture from authoritative sources because our own > understanding will be colored by our differing paradigms. However, > there's something interesting in the life of oral traditions. The > changes in the retelling that give them their color and character > based on the teller's memory and capacity to evoke the ideas they > remember. > > -Kevin > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:168305 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
