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 138
... storytelling , and that the liar " is the very basis of civilized soci- ety . " Plato wanted to keep poets and ... storytellers have embraced such accusations , welcoming them as a signal of their freedom from the distractions of ...
... storytelling , and that the liar " is the very basis of civilized soci- ety . " Plato wanted to keep poets and ... storytellers have embraced such accusations , welcoming them as a signal of their freedom from the distractions of ...
Page 145
... storytellers do ; and that's why songs like " Amazing Grace " and " Bridge Over Troubled Waters ” and national anthems like " The Star - Spangled Banner " or the " Marseillaise " have such a hold on us . When we are in doubt — and I ...
... storytellers do ; and that's why songs like " Amazing Grace " and " Bridge Over Troubled Waters ” and national anthems like " The Star - Spangled Banner " or the " Marseillaise " have such a hold on us . When we are in doubt — and I ...
Page 153
... storytellers finesse the line between the true and the untrue is with humour and exaggeration . Each is bound up in cultural conventions , but both are common in all cultures . They often bring reality and the imagination into closer ...
... storytellers finesse the line between the true and the untrue is with humour and exaggeration . Each is bound up in cultural conventions , but both are common in all cultures . They often bring reality and the imagination into closer ...
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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