Indigenous Activism and the Healing Power of Storytelling

Abstract

Storytelling is a foundational element of Indigenous oral cultures, where it has a key epistemological, pedagogical and healing role and assures knowledge transmission and community relationality. This essay examines how Indigenous writers Jeanette Armstrong and Lee Maracle use their traditions of orature as part of their activist agenda to promote a decolonization of the patriarchal mindset and prompt humanity to embrace an ethics of ‘relational ecology’ which restores reverence and respect for Mother Earth. Their stories can help both Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers to embrace a collective process of healing from multiple forms of colonial violence.

Keywords

• indigenous women
• storytelling
• healing
• j. armstrong
• l. maracle