#settlertime — Public Fediverse posts

#Acawrimo accountability post 4. For Nov. 4, I'm going to post brief notes about two short pieces in the 2022.9 special issue of the *Journal of #Folklore in #Education* on #Death, Loss, & Remembrance Across Cultures
--Ashley Minner's "Riding With James: More than a #Map" (25-35)
--Browning Neddau's "A Conversation with #Nokmes (My Grandmother) in #Poetry" (36-40)

Each of these is a personal reflection about relationships with the dead by indigenous people, and though neither is from the indigenous groups that Wright-Maley drew on in the article I wrote about yesterday, their reflections illustrate the broad-brush generalization of the differences between #SettlerTime and #IndigenousTime.

Minner writes about learning the history of an area in East #Baltimore that had been a #Lumbee Reservation through conversations with her elder cousin (before his death) and his age peers. Together they annotate an existing map, then draw their, own maps, and then just Minner and her cousin drive through the mapped area, talk to the people there now, eat lunch, and tell stories.

The first map Minner brings to the group of elders had been made by a white anthropologist for a federal government report (28). This map represents historical knowledge based on the evidentiary record available to the anthropologist. It is ultimately incomplete and unsatisfying because it does not represent the lived reality of the Lumbee who had homes, businesses, and lives there. Their maps begin from the same grid but add significantly more depth and nuance to the representation of the Lumbee Reservation. Their folk knowledge is essential to actually understanding this geographic place, its past, and its present.

In her conclusion, Minner notes that her cousin James lives on in the stories of their community, in the continuity of the language, and in the actions of people continuing to walk in his footsteps, both metaphorically and literally (33).

Helpfully, Minner offers a brief lesson plan based on the experiences she shared in this reflection.

Neddeau also emphasizes the importance of stories, connecting the importance of telling the community's stories to the #Potawatomi's charge to "keep the fire burning" among the #Anishinaabe peoples (37).

The personal reflection in this piece tells the story of Neddeau's process of creation, revisiting the stories of his grandmother's early life, recalling his memories of her, and bringing her into his present for a conversation in the form of a poem.

One idea that stands out to me in this reflection is the importance of listening. It's not unusual to have the importance of telling a community's or a person's stories emphasized, but Neddeau also talks about the importance of listening. It's incredibly obvious, but the reminder was like a lightbulb for me--we can only tell the stories we've heard, the ones we've listened to enough times to recall and to tell ourselves.

My own grandmother turned 98 this year, and we can all see her life on this earth approaching its end. I appreciate the reminder to listen in order to tell. As a widow, I have often also felt like the curator of my late husband's life, choosing the stories that I tell his children. In short, I guess, even as a non-indigenous person, the way of relating to the dead presented by these two reflections resonates with me a lot, and I think they describe an important truth about humanity's relationship to our dead in general.

https://jfepublications.org/article/riding-with-james/

https://jfepublications.org/article/a-conversation-with-nokmes-my-grandmother-in-poetry/