| dc.description.abstract | Among their capacities to entertain, to pass down cultural traditions, ceremonies,
dances, songs, and to correct undesired behaviours, sacred stories explain how something in
nature came to be and how our interactions with those creatures and other life forms around
us lead into actions of established ceremonies of respect for the land and ourselves. Thus,
from ceremonies and traditions, to codes of conduct and behaviour, to cultural spirituality
and beliefs, sacred stories contain the history of Indigenous peoples. With this recorded
history in mind, I ask: How are Anishinawbe and Cree sacred story lessons and lessons
learned in one's own life journey connected through themes and issues, characters, and
Seven Grandfather Teachings morals?
With the intention to provide a method of understanding the Seven Grandfather
Teachings, I blend the writing of morals into a personally influenced fictional story. I also
draw upon theories of Indigenous ways of knowing to bring an understanding of
relationships and connections to animals and land into the dissertation story. Concepts of
Elders and roles of storytelling, and the oral tradition with connections to self and life are
also discussed. I interweave all of these concepts in my theoretical framework into an
Indigenous storytelling methodology through the use of an Indigenous story method. To
elaborate, I refer to established Indigenous researchers including Jo-Ann Archibald (2008)
and Margaret Kovach (2009) to describe how Indigenous storytelling informs and is a
research methodology. I also discuss how structures and types of sacred story (Ellis, 1995)
can create the foundation of an Indigenous story method.
To inform my interpretation of sacred story characters as they appear in the
dissertation story, including the characters of Weesquachak and Windigo, I combine the readings from literature in related fields (Indigenous education, Indigenous ways of knowing,
Indigenous knowledge) as well as personal understandings gained from in-depth analyses of
the sacred story characters. The analysis of sacred story characters includes discussion of
character traits, any physical description drawn from sacred story, and actions and behaviours
that inform the interpretation of the character and how they appear in the dissertation.
This dissertation story is about a 16-year-old girl named Butterfly who, through a
series of adventures with selected characters borrowed from sacred story, copes with many
different life experiences during a fall semester in high school and learns some of the lessons
often found in sacred story and the Seven Grandfather Teachings.
A part of my own learning throughout my life and my time during the process of
writing this dissertation is built into the dissertation novel: my growing sense of personal and
cultural pride, and my strength as an Ojibwe woman. | en_US |
