“Indigenous storytelling in educational contexts: digital media as a vehicle for cultural transmission and language acquisition.” (original) (raw)

2019, Perspectives on Indigenous writing and literacies

This chapter problematizes the educational affordances of accessing indigenous storytelling practices in online environments. Focus lies on the use of storytelling for language revitalization in indigenous contexts of Sápmi (the traditional Sámi settlement area) and Australia. By examining contemporary examples of digital storytelling projects, we investigate creation and production processes, including not only the role of institutions as a source of production, but also the role of various agents in order to make possible for community members to create and share their own productions. The production of digital stories that present indigenous languages and culture online can be seen as a voice for marginalized communities, but also as initiatives and efforts towards self-representation and revitalization, i.e. a "deliberate, organized, conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying culture" (Wallace, 1956, 265). As emphasized in previous research, successful revitalization requires changing community attitudes (Grenoble and Whaley, 2006.13). Consequently, any attempt to consider possibilities and challenges in revitalization should start in considering initiatives taken by the community itself in order to strengthen and promote their language. This study discusses some of the challenges and possibilities for education and language acquisition from selected examples. Further, we discuss some of the potentials and uses for digital literature and storytelling in relation to cultural revitalization and cultural practices in an indigenous context. This discussion is focused on several recent examples of digital media used to produce content that aims to revitalize indigenous languages and culture through education. Rather than overly give attention on such features as language acquisition and transmission, we are interested in the role of language in relation to traditions and identities. These relationships are especially powerful when expressed in relation to land, heritage and traditional cultural practices. Our examples include Sámi initiatives from Sweden and Norway, as well as digital works and a publishing initiative from Indigenous Australian communities. We choose to focus on education from the perspective of the Indigenous communities, which are often resisting the intrusion of power in the form of economic and political elites. This raises questions related to what is a meaningful education from an indigenous perspective and many of these struggles are played out via media.