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What Literature Teaches About Different Cultures
Native american oral storytelling
Native american oral storytelling
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The Golden Flower; A Taino Myth From Puerto Rico written by Nina Jeffe, was published on May 1, 2005 by Arte Publico Press and is recommended for children ages 5-10. The book begins by informing children that the island of Puerto Rico was once known as Boriquen, and Taino Indians and how they used to gather to tell their folklore and encourages children to imagine they were there as well. The story begins by telling the students that when the world was young there was no water or green plants, only a mountain and desert planes. It continues to tell how a young boy, traveling along the mountain one day, caught a seed floating in the wind and placed it inside of his pouch. Every day he repeated the same process until his pouch had become full …show more content…
and he decided to plant the seeds. Days later, a “magical” forest had begun to grow on top of the mountain with different trees and flowers that people gathered to see. When a giant, beautiful pumpkin grew in the middle of the forest people stopped visiting due to the sounds they could hear inside of it when placing their ear on it. However, two men decided they would be greedy and steal the “globe” for themselves and began to fight over it.
Their argument resulted in the pumpkin being pulled from the vine and roll down the mountain where it busted open and the oceans and sea life poured out covering the once desert planes all the way to the edge of the forest. The story ended happily for the people could use the streams of water for drinking, and the fish for eating and the water for crops, and the child rejoiced as water and forests were brought to the Earth. The illustrations, done by Enrique O. Sanchez, beautifully accompanied the text to enhance the story being told. They seemed to be culturally accurate and were very …show more content…
unique. The further enhance student’s work with this book I would provide them with a worksheet that teaches them more about the Taino Indian by showing them examples from their culture including what their houses were called and what they were made out of, as well as instruments they used (link to resource: http://www.elboricua.com/BKTainos_handout.html ). I would also provide students with a simplified map of Puerto Rico so that they could identify how it is surrounded by water and see the lush forestry that exists on the island. Furthermore, we could read How the Sea Began: A Taino Myth by George L. Crespo, and compare and contrast the two stories that were both based on the Taino myth. For my curriculum connection I would connect the story of the Golden Flower to create activities for Science and Art.
For Science, I would connect the boy planting a seed and watching his forest grow to the plant cycle. I would gather paper cups and bean seeds for each student. Each student would plant their seed inside of the cup and check on it periodically, recording what they observed by journals or pictures depending on the grade level, and predict what they believe will happen next. Once the plant has finished growing students will make connections as how their predictions differed from what they saw and compare it to how the forest grew in the story. In addition, to connect the story to art, I would have students individually create a piece of Taino inspired jewelry. First, I would research pictures of jewelry made by the tribe, then I would provide students with sufficient amounts of string, feathers, sea shells, sea-animal shaped beads/charms and stones (weaved around string to utilize). Students would be able to choose which items to use and paint them if needed to create their personal piece of
jewelry. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy I would ask students the following questions for each category. 1. Remember: • Who was the author of The Golden Flower? • What happened that caused the forest to grow? 2. Understand: • What kind of story could we classify this as? • Create a timeline explaining what happened during the book. 3. Apply: • If you could change part of the story, what would it be? • What would you have done after hearing the sounds inside of the pumpkin? 4. Analyze: • How would you compare what happened in this book to what happened in How the Sea Began: A Taino Myth by George L. Crespo? • How can we tell this story is folklore? 5. Evaluate: • Do you think this is how the sea really came to be? Why or why not? • How did the pumpkin end up broken? 6. Create: • Think of the title, The Golden Flower, and write a short story of your own that you think would go along with the title. (Do before reading) • Using crayons, markers or colored pencils, draw me a picture of what you think the scenery inside of the forest looked like.
One of the most well known figures of the twentieth century pottery world is Maria Martinez. Maria Martinez is a Pueblo Indian part of the San Ildefondo tribe. Pueblo pottery from the American Southwest holds a unique place in ceramic art forms of American art. It is full of age-old tradition and culture handed down form family members and potters of the past. The old Pueblo ways of creating it still hold true today and have not been changed or influenced like so many other styles in modern times.
Kathryn book Life in the Pueblo is based on excavations that she did at Lizard Man Village (Kamp, 1997). This was a small pueblo located in Arizona which is believed to be inhabited between 11th and 13th century. These ancient excavations were first carried out by United States Forest Service and were parts of Grinnell College field school (Kamp, 1997). The aim of the book was to describe Lizard Man Village and present excavation processes and analysis. Kamp 1997 offers archaeological interpretation of the site in relation to the past understandings. She bring out successfully three narratives. These narratives include ethnographic data in relationship to traditional accounts from Hopi (a place which is believed to be the first resident of Lizard Man) (Kamp, 1997). He also bring out clearly the issue of archaeology as well as fictional account basing it on both ethnography and archaeology.
In the article "Sacred Sustenance: Maize, Storytelling, and a Mayan Sense of Place," the author, Leah Alexandra Huff, is arguing that Ethnographers should pay more attention to stories because they allow for a deeper understanding of cultures. To support her argument, she uses the example of the significance of maize in the Mayan civilization as well as their sense of place. Huff first describes the importance of place in building and maintaining a community and developing it identity. She explains that place was important for indigenous communities such as the Mayans because land was part of their cultural and spiritual systems. Huff then goes on to detail the importance of storytelling. She argues that storytelling helps create identity,
Victorio was a famous Chiricahua Indian chief. He has had some cool things happen in his life that made the history book and put his tribes on the map. I have some own knowledge about the Chiricahua Indians. My family has some Chiricahua Indian in them. My grandpa and great aunt are both Mexican and Chiricahua Indians. All of my grandpa's siblings, parents, and grandparents have traces of Chiricahua Indian.
The legend of "La lechuza y el sijú" ("The Owl and the Sijú") is a popular and old Cuban legend. I collected this legend on March 17th, when I first talked to Denise Corte, my co-worker at my campus job, about this particular class assignment. She is a Brazilian doctoral student whose thesis is based on a Cuban theater group. She traveled to Cuba to follow this theater group that primarily focuses their plays on Cuban legends. When she heard about my assignment she was enthusiastic, as her dissertation is based on the exploration of Cuban legends. She generously told me about a legend that she had included in her own work, concerning an owl and a sijú, a nocturnal bird native to Cuba. This legend was told to her in Spanish, so she graciously translated it into English.
The Saga of the Tigua Indians is an amazing one. By all reasoning they should have been wiped out long ago. There quiet defiance to change, however, has carried them through. From the height of civilization to near extinction the Tigua have remained. They endure imprisonment by the Spanish, oppression and manipulation by everyone that followed. This is the story of a people thought to extinct, that are once again learning to survive.
In “On the American Indians” Vitoria argues that there are few situations that justify a country to use humanitarian intervention. Humanitarian intervention is defined as military force, publicly stated to end the violation of human rights, against another state. Vitoria discredits the justification of humanitarian intervention in every case, unless you are intervening for an ally or a friend. In this paper, I will argue that his view is more plausible than it may at first appear.
The article “The problems with Native American Mascots” written by Laurel R. Davis covers many arguments regarding the use of Native American names and images for sports teams’ mascots. Rather or not sports teams should be able to continue using Native American names for their teams and images for their mascots is a highly controversial topic. Opinions will vary, especially when a person of Native American heritage is being asked opposed to a person of non-Native American heritage. Native American images should not be used for sports teams’ mascots as their use stereotypes the group, misrepresents many aspects of the Native American culture, as well as negatively impacting the lives of those that come from Native American heritage.
Leslie Marmon Silko will enlighten the reader with interesting tales and illuminating life lessons in her story “Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit”. Silko, being a Native American will show the style in which people in her tribe, the Laguna Pueblo functioned and how their lifestyle varied from westernized customs. (add more here) Silko’s use of thought provoking messages hidden within her literature will challenge the reader to look beyond the text in ornate ways and use their psychological cognition to better portray the views of Silko’s story.
The Popol Vuh is a collection of historical mythos of the K’iche’ Maya, a group that still lives in the Guatemalan highlands. Popol Vuh translates as either, “Book of Council” or in proper K’iche’ “Book of Events” or “Book of the People”, and tells the creation mythos of the K’iche’ peoples, an epic tale of Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, along with a series of genealogies.
In passage one it shows respect for the unique environment of the swamp "floating mats of peat" are not at home in the midst of rivers as they are in Passage 2. In the first Passage since it was here to inform, they were given a scientific name, "hummocks," and they are accepted as part of the terrain. Additionally, the mental picture each purports is entirely in contrast with the other's Passage 1 yields "extensive prairies," "bald cypress trees festooned with moss," "meandering channels of open water," and "exotic flowers." The imagery that is pictures in the firs passage is of freedom, of beauty, of the easygoing simplicity and relaxation we seem idealize in nature. The moss "festooning" the "bald" cypress trees lends a sense of spirit and independent joy to the life in the swamp, a high order, but a place still flowing as freely as the water in its trees. the second passage, however, is not home to flowing water, it is home to "muck, mud, slime, and ooze." There are no flowers in this swamp, there are only "leaf-choked acres" yearning to end. Here, there are not "rare" species of flowers, but "seething galaxies of gnats... paramecia that exist only to compound the misery of life." Here, the swamp is not a place of joy or idealism, but a place of punishment, of agony, of torture and ugliness which is the imagery that the author chooses to show
Retana, Manuela Moon. (2014). El cerrito concheros dances dedicated to spring equinox. Journal Rotary, Queretaro, Mexico, 1-2.
Introduction: The concept of the change and longevity of the fairy tale (or myth) is well illustrated in the story “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Silko. Not only is the story a modern explanation of a traditional Native American myth, but the style that Silko uses to tell it evokes and adapts the oral communication style that those old myths were passed down with. The story is also very self-consciously aware of its place as a modern revision of a myth, and makes many internal references to this aspect of itself. “Yellow Woman” becomes, in effect, the modern version of a Native American myth or legend, and therefore is a perfect example of the way in which old tales are made new.
Many people know of the rhyme, “Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492,” and as a result of his discoveries, he was considered a historic hero worthy of having a holiday dedicated to him. Little did he know at the time, however, that he would find a preexisting civilization built by the Taino Native Americans that he would catalyze the fall of – returning their initial friendliness with labor and suffering. The loss of the Taino population was the result of harsh conditions, disease, and exploitation under Spanish colonization.
The Pre-K and Kindergarten class studied habitats of various animals and insects. They were given examples and tough how the animals made their homes. The students built a bird house as their project and as something to take home to remind them of what they learned. Finally they went on a field trip to Legoland where they explored and built “habitats” for their families and the Lego people. The first and second grade class learned about marine life and the ocean. They built shoe box dioramas of coral reefs and created art projects depicting sea life as well as learning new facts about the ocean. The students got to go to the Aquarium for their field trip. Finally the third and fourth graders studied the rain forests and their ecosystems. The students built rainforest models and terrariums along with small group discussions on different ideas human intervention and conservation. They finished their week at the zoo where they studied different rainforest inhabitants in