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 121
... stories and songs was not only so the spell wouldn't be broken ; it was also so that they could be absolutely surprised all over again . We learn more about this much later when we realize that one mark of a good story or novel is how ...
... stories and songs was not only so the spell wouldn't be broken ; it was also so that they could be absolutely surprised all over again . We learn more about this much later when we realize that one mark of a good story or novel is how ...
Page 192
... stories are resistance stories and all songs are songs of resistance , pushing back against the tyrannies of the everyday as well as the terrors of the unknown . They give us a way responding with intelligence and invention when we're ...
... stories are resistance stories and all songs are songs of resistance , pushing back against the tyrannies of the everyday as well as the terrors of the unknown . They give us a way responding with intelligence and invention when we're ...
Page 193
... songs and stories are " the bread that lasts when sys- tems have decayed , " passed " from hand to mouth " in times of trouble . This sustenance can come from anywhere , and every community has classics that give it courage and comfort ...
... songs and stories are " the bread that lasts when sys- tems have decayed , " passed " from hand to mouth " in times of trouble . This sustenance can come from anywhere , and every community has classics that give it courage and comfort ...
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
LOSING | 74 |
REALITY AND THE IMAGINATION | 94 |
Copyright | |
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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 American asked Australia become beginning believe bring called century ceremony choice civilized claim comes contradiction course cowboy cultures death described dream English especially fact faith father feel Gitksan give hand happen heart hold horses human hundred idea imagination important Indian John kind knew land language later listen live look meaning metaphor mind mountains move native natural Navajo never North once poem poet question reality recognize represented rhymes river sacred seemed sense settlers side sing society sometimes sounds speak spirits stories and songs storytellers strange talking tell things thought told traditions translated true truth turned understand United West wonder written