If this is your land, where are your stories? : finding common ground

Author:J. Edward Chamberlin

Summary: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

Edition:Vintage Canada ed View all formats and editions

Physical Description:271 pages ; 21 cm

ISBN:

9780676974928, 0676974929

OCLC Number / Unique Identifier:1036271543

Subjects:

Folklore Aspect social

Folklore Social aspects

Contents:

Introduction

Part I: Them and us. Babblers

Doodlers

There goes the neighborhood

Part II: Losing it. There's no place like home

Gaelic is dead

Part III: Reality and the imagination. To be and not to be

Truth and consequences

Part IV: Riddles and charms. Riddles

Charms

Part V: Ceremonies of belief. Beyond conflict

Ceremonies

Notes

Permissions

Acknowledgments

Index