Storytelling as a Way to Teach

Learning more about Indigenous cultures in Canada allows us to see the world through new eyes. A diverse, rich culture that did not need written history, as their stories taught their people culture, sociology, religion, geography, science, history, political science, and so much more. A society that relied upon the elders to hold the collective knowledge of the community and did not rely upon writing to pass along knowledge. The elders were held in high regard because they remembered the stories of their ancestors. In a written society it’s often easy to dismiss elders as the written word holds the key to their history, and is remembered only through documentation.
It’s interesting to note that stories are told in every culture, and in every culture their fairy tales started out as histories of the people. They are all transfers of knowledge, and acculturation. Learning through stories shows what is of value to society. They show what aspect of life people value, and what they revere. They tell us about creation, rebelion, triumph, failure, resilience, and arrow. They encompass every aspect of life.

In a culture without written word, it’s even more important to have all the details in these stories in order to impart all the knowledge to their younger kin. This knowledge can prevent wars, as it details the territories of certain peoples. It can tell of historical treaties and who the enemies were and why. It allows the society to grow and still hold to tradition.

Fairy tales in written cultures are often seen as something for children to amuse themselves, but the stories weren’t seen that way when they were written. It was a form of entertainment for adults, but also a history. When we look at Homer’s tale of Troy, historians believe it was a mythical place. It was not until fairly recently that we discovered the city of Troy. Homer’s tale may have been historical fiction, as there is no way to verify the facts, but it was based in some truth. Stories tell us about who we are as a people and record history.

We often take history as set in stone, forgetting that history is written by a flawed human, with their own biases, history, culture and perspective that can taint the history. This is true in oral histories as well, however the nature of the oral history requires a high level of memorization, that takes out many personal biases because the story is known by many people. It’s interesting to note that people with an oral history may have a more consistent view of the stories. This is not to say that the stories don’t evolve or change over time, but the more people that know the story, the less likely the story is to change drastically given a particular person’s point of view.

References

Chan, A. S. (2021). Storytelling, culture, and indigenous methodology. In Discourses, dialogue and diversity in biographical research (pp. 170-185). Brill.

Gareau, P. L. (n.d.-b). Indigenous Canada. Coursera. University of Alberta. https://www.coursera.org/learn/indigenous-canada/home/module/1

Scalise Sugiyama, M. (2021). Co‐occurrence of Ostensive Communication and Generalizable Knowledge in Forager Storytelling: Cross-Cultural Evidence of Teaching in Forager Societies. Human Nature, 32(1), 279-300.