Nabokov's Testimony and The Menominee Folktale

    "Nabokov's Testimony and The Menominee Folktale"

The resource that has interested me the most so far in this course is Peter Nabokov's book “Native American Testimony”. It is cool reading first hand accounts of Natives coming to understand seeing white settlers or a certain animal for the first time. The European accounts Ive heard in history classes growing up, and that seems to be the voice that is “loudest” in the history books. The testimonies of the Native Americans are very fascinating and I wish I read them earlier in my history classes. There is a sense of peacefulness in the way Natives talk about the earth and life in general that is very impressive to me. My Favorite account is the folktale “Thunder, Dizzying Liquid, Cups that do not grow” because it shows the Natives already had a sound way of living before the Europeans came, and shows that the White Man and the Native people had different ideas of what is important in life. Europeans had these great advancements in weaponry and cooking, but the natives only adapted what they thought they could use. (“the cups to become kettles” pp 36-38 “Testimony”) I also really like how the accounts in “Testimony” are organized into topics, like prophecies of the white man, or face to face and stories and accounts of goods and cultural exchanges . This course has already toaght me how important it is to hear as many voices and sides to the story as possible. You never know what detail or perspective you can find. Overall, its very eye opening hearing the Native American accounts in Nabokov's books.

"Thunder,dizzying Liquid..." is a Menominee Folktale

Comments

  1. MyBayBaileyNovember 22, 2017 at 9:42 AM

    Yes, Nabokov has provided a wonderful compilation of first hand stories that come alive when you read them. The Menominee Great Seal is also eye-catching! Would you have any background information on how the seal came to be and why they may have used the symbology they did? Symbology and stories seem to overlap. I imagine the red bird in the center is perhaps a thunder-bird? Or an eagle?

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  2. UnknownNovember 24, 2017 at 6:18 PM

    Pat,

    I agree that I wish I could have read the perspective of the Natives while I was learning about this history earlier on in my education. At least now we are able to gain some perspective on the other side of the story. As we delve deeper into the course I'm sure we will find more examples similar to the one you pointed out in your post.

    Patrick Riordan

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