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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... songs and stories , revealing the extent to which vocabulary and language enable us to know not only where we are but who we are . They give meaning to our lives ; in them we are blessed by imagination , whether we realize it or not ...
... songs and stories , revealing the extent to which vocabulary and language enable us to know not only where we are but who we are . They give meaning to our lives ; in them we are blessed by imagination , whether we realize it or not ...
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... songs of cowboys to the poetry of shamans , from science to the realm of myth , Ted Chamberlin provides the cure . " -Wade Davis , author of Light at the Edge of the World " This new book places us in the middle of the stories of ...
... songs of cowboys to the poetry of shamans , from science to the realm of myth , Ted Chamberlin provides the cure . " -Wade Davis , author of Light at the Edge of the World " This new book places us in the middle of the stories of ...
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... stories are as varied as the landscapes and languages of the world; and the ... stories to constitutions, from southern epics and northern sagas to native ... songs give us a way to believe, and ceremonies sustain our faith. They also ...
... stories are as varied as the landscapes and languages of the world; and the ... stories to constitutions, from southern epics and northern sagas to native ... songs give us a way to believe, and ceremonies sustain our faith. They also ...
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... stories and songs. They are built on the arbitrariness of words and images, which is to say they are built on sand; but they are rock solid as long as we believe in them. And that belief is founded on a sense of ceremony, a ceremony of ...
... stories and songs. They are built on the arbitrariness of words and images, which is to say they are built on sand; but they are rock solid as long as we believe in them. And that belief is founded on a sense of ceremony, a ceremony of ...
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... stories to constitutions , from southern epics and northern sagas to native ... stories that claim to be absolutely true . We first learn this when we are ... songs give us a way to believe , and ceremonies sustain our faith . in They ...
... stories to constitutions , from southern epics and northern sagas to native ... stories that claim to be absolutely true . We first learn this when we are ... songs give us a way to believe , and ceremonies sustain our faith . in They ...
Contents
1 | |
8 | |
LOSING | 74 |
REALITY AND THE IMAGINATION | 94 |
To Be or Not to Be | 118 |
RIDDLES AND CHARMS | 160 |
CEREMONIES OF BELIEF | 192 |
Beyond Conflict | 198 |
Notes | 241 |
Permissions | 253 |
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Common terms and phrases
aboriginal Americas asked Australia become beginning believe bring called century ceremony choice civilized comes contradiction course cowboys cultures death described dream English especially fact faith father feel Gitksan give 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 remark 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 writing written