Key points for Native American Oral Tradition

MYTH:

The dramatic representation of culturally important truths in narrative form

Eras of Oral Narratives:

Three functions of oral narratives in the community:
1.  Entertain
2.  Instruct listeners in cultural, social, and practical wisdom
3.  Community ritual of shared belief: the act itself of telling the narratives can create harmony between a community and the sacred processes of the world.  Often the act of telling creates healing or hunting luck and promotes proper thinking about the world.

Challenges of Translating the Oral tradition:

1. Typical translation issues from one language to another – different structures, syntax, vocabulary
2. We’re missing visual elements – movement, costume, performance, music, as well as audience-performer interactions
3. These are stories told and repeated within a community; listeners would have heard these stories many times over and know them well
4. Historical, cultural, and religious differences between Native culture and our own
5. Wide variation among tribes and across geographic regions and over time has made tracing these traditions difficult for modern scholars; there is no monolithic “Native” or “Indian” story/belief/ritual.
6. Loss of tradition due to smaller and smaller communities that become marginalized and lose language and/or culture, often due to geographic displacement and separation.

Role of Repetition in Oral Narrative:

1. Emphasis
2. Create rhythm
3. Create balance
4. Aid in oral composition
5. Expectation
6. Completeness
7. Satisfaction/fulfillment

Pay attention to

Characters – who are the main characters?   How much do we know about them?  What motivates them?  What physical descriptions are there?  What do they say and do?

Events – what happens in the story?  Summarize key points

Style/Method/Reading challenges

Connections with other mythologies?