If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground“We need to understand our stories because our lives depend upon it.” —Ted Chamberlin The stories we tell each other reflect and shape our deepest feelings. Stories help us live our lives—and are at the heart of our current conflicts. We love and hate because of them; we make homes for ourselves and drive others out on the basis of ancient tales. As Ted Chamberlin vividly reveals, we are both connected by them and separated by their different truths. Whether Jew or Arab, black or white, Muslim or Christian, Catholic or Protestant, man or woman, our stories hold us in thrall and hold others at bay. Like the work of Joseph Campbell and Bruce Chatwin, this vital, engrossing book offers a new way to understand the hold that stories and songs have on us, and a new sense of the urgency of doing so. Drawing on his own experience in many fields—as scholar and storyteller, witness among native peoples and across cultures—Ted Chamberlin takes us on a journey through the tales of different peoples, from North America to Africa and Jamaica. Beautifully written, with insight and deep understanding, If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? examines why it is now more important than ever to attend to what others are saying in their stories and myths—and what we are saying about ourselves. Only then will we understand why they have such power over us. |
From inside the book
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Page 1
... hold us together and at the same time keep us apart . They also understood the importance of the Gitksan language , especially to those who do not speak it . The language sounded strange ; it made no sense to most of the people there ...
... hold us together and at the same time keep us apart . They also understood the importance of the Gitksan language , especially to those who do not speak it . The language sounded strange ; it made no sense to most of the people there ...
Page 2
... hold us in thrall and hold others at bay . What we share is the practice of believing , which we become adept at very early in our lives ; and it is this prac- tice that generates the power of stories . We need to go back to the ...
... hold us in thrall and hold others at bay . What we share is the practice of believing , which we become adept at very early in our lives ; and it is this prac- tice that generates the power of stories . We need to go back to the ...
Page 185
... hold on people who like to get things done . " This is a poem for doers rather than dreamers . And it has had more than its share of admirers , from the German Kaiser to Antonio Gramsci , the leader of the Italian Communist party in the ...
... hold on people who like to get things done . " This is a poem for doers rather than dreamers . And it has had more than its share of admirers , from the German Kaiser to Antonio Gramsci , the leader of the Italian Communist party in the ...
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If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground J. Edward Chamberlin Limited preview - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
aboriginal Achilles Africa Americas asked Australia barbaric believe Blackfoot blackheart buffalo Bunny Wailer Bushmen calculus called century ceremony of belief civilized conflict contradiction course cowboys cultures death Derek Walcott Don McKay Dorze Doukhobor dream essay fact faith father Fort Macleod Gitksan give Grand Coulee Dam Greeks Halldór Laxness herd homeland horses human Iain Crichton Smith Ian Tyson imagination Indian Khomani kind Kowanyama land language listen live look mathematicians mathematics metaphor mountains myths native natural Navajo never Odysseus once painted poem poet question Rastafari Rastafarian reality recognize rhymes riddle river sacred sense settlers sheep units sing society sometimes sorrow speak spirits stories and songs storytellers strange talking tell things thought tion told traditions translated treaties true Truganini truth turned understand West wonder words