List of Maps and Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgements, The Editors
Glossary of Cree Terms
Words and Personal Names
Place Names
Suggested Language Resources
Maps
Chapter 1: An Omushkego Storyteller and his Book
A Quotation Story: "It Must Be Your Thigh Bone that You Hear"
Chapter 2: "Now, the Question of Creation": Stories About Beginnings and the World before We Came
Introduction, Paul W. DePasquale
Giant Animals
Mi-she-shek-kak (The Giant Skunk)
Creator Talks to the Animals About the Emergence of the Humans
E-hep
Chapter 3: Mi-te-wi-win: Stories of Shamanism and Survival
Introduction, Mark F. Ruml
The Dream Quest and Mi-te-wi-win
Guidance and Instruction From an Older Relative
Dream Quest
Extra Senses - Mind Power
Mi-te-wak Fights
Introduction to the Shaking Tent, Mark F. Ruml
The Shaking Tent
Chapter 4: Mi-tew Power: Stories of Shamanic Showdowns
Introduction, Mark F. Ruml
The Legend of We-mis-shoosh
The Young Orphan Boy Defeats a Powerful and Feared Mi-tew
Chapter 5: Omens, Mysteries, and First Encounters
Introduction, Jennifer S.H. Brown
The Omushkego Captive and the Na-to-way-wak: A Remarkable Escape
Omens, Mysteries, and First Encounters with Europeans
"I Cannot Have Anything from these We-mis-ti-go-si-wak"
"In the Memory of the Wikeson I-skwe-o"
Cha-ka-pesh and the Sailors
Strangers on Akimiski Island: Helping a Grounded Ship
Wa-pa-mo-win, the Mirror
Chapter 6: "The Wailing Clouds" (Pa-so-way-yan-nask Chi-pe-ta-so-win)
Introduction, Anne Lindsay
The Wailing Clouds
Chapter 7: Arrows and Thunder Sticks: Technologies Old and New
Introduction, Roland Bohr
On Firearms and Archery
Chapter 8: Mi-te-wi-win versus Christianity: Grand Sophia's Story
Introduction, Donna G. Sutherland
Grand Sophia's Near-Death Experience
Chapter 9: Conclusion: Problems and Hopes
References
Notes on Contributors
Index
This is an amazing book, carefully produced with helpful maps, glossary, notes, and illustrations. The editors' preface and Louis Bird's own introduction to his life and work orient the reader so everything works together to create the context for understanding the stories themselves. And the stories are wonderful! Illuminating and ranging widely over a variety of topics and themes, they are skillfully told and rendered. This is a moving and comprehensive book. We should be grateful to Mr. Bird and his collaborators for allowing us into this world. -- Brian Swann, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Mr. Louis Bird is a distinguished public intellectual from his Omushkego (Cree) community who has collaborated effectively with scholars from the University of Winnipeg to bring his knowledge to his own community and beyond. Rarely do outsiders have such an opportunity to hear an elder speak in the full range of oral tradition genres: from creation stories and traditional legends to historical memories passed down by previous generations of cultural experts within the community, to personal experiences, to elegiac reflection on contemporary loss of culture and language (which he dates to 1980 when most people stopped living on the land). These narratives are unified by Mr. Bird's self-confidence and pride in his Omushkego ways. He has sought out others with traditional knowledge and incorporated their words in his own synthesis. He records this knowledge, which is the intellectual property of his community, so that future generations will have access to it. -- Regna Darnell, Director of First Nations Studies Program, University of Western Ontario
Louis Bird is a widely known storyteller and historian of his
Omushkego (Swampy Cree) people. A member of Winisk First Nation, he
resides in Peawanuck near the shore of Hudson Bay. He has devoted
the last three decades to preserving Omushkego stories, language,
and history on audiotape. More than 80 of the stories he has
gathered, along with overviews of his life story and the Winisk
region, are presented on the website www.ourvoices.ca, produced by
the Omushkego Oral History Project at the University of
Winnipeg.
Jennifer S.H. Brown is a Professor in the Department of History at
the University of Winnipeg, Canada Research Chair in Aboriginal
Peoples in an Urban and Regional Context, and Director of the
Centre for Rupert's Land Studies at the University of Winnipeg. She
is the author of Strangers in Blood: Fur Trade Company Families in
Indian Country (University of Oklahoma Press, 1996).
This is an amazing book, carefully produced with helpful maps,
glossary, notes, and illustrations. The editors' preface and Louis
Bird's own introduction to his life and work orient the reader so
everything works together to create the context for understanding
the stories themselves. And the stories are wonderful! Illuminating
and ranging widely over a variety of topics and themes, they are
skillfully told and rendered. This is a moving and comprehensive
book. We should be grateful to Mr. Bird and his collaborators for
allowing us into this world.--Brian Swann, The Cooper Union for the
Advancement of Science and Art
Mr. Louis Bird is a distinguished public intellectual from his
Omushkego (Cree) community who has collaborated effectively with
scholars from the University of Winnipeg to bring his knowledge to
his own community and beyond. Rarely do outsiders have such an
opportunity to hear an elder speak in the full range of oral
tradition genres: from creation stories and traditional legends to
historical memories passed down by previous generations of cultural
experts within the community, to personal experiences, to elegiac
reflection on contemporary loss of culture and language (which he
dates to 1980 when most people stopped living on the land). These
narratives are unified by Mr. Bird's self-confidence and pride in
his Omushkego ways. He has sought out others with traditional
knowledge and incorporated their words in his own synthesis. He
records this knowledge, which is the intellectual property of his
community, so that future generations will have access to
it.--Regna Darnell, Director of First Nations Studies Program,
University of Western Ontario
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
