What kind of pen do I need to use to write my culture and my language?

Abstract

Through a form of narrative inquiry involving the use of vignettes and ruminations about present and past, the author examines the role(s) of orality, literacy, and aurality in the intergenerational transmission of his language and culture. Weaving together stories from childhood, memories, and translations of his grandmother’s poetry, the author raises questions about how we, as Indigenous peoples, might ensure that we are able to teach our own next generations our spirits, hearts, being/knowing of the world and who we are as human beings now that oral cultures are being discarded--or worse, written down.

Keywords

• narrative inquiry
• orality
• literacy
• aurality
• intergenerational
• indigenous peoples