Regular price £25.56 GBP
Regular price Sale price £25.56 GBP
Sale Sold out
Free UK Shipping

Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead

Maps of Experience
The Anchoring of Land to Story in Secwepemc Discourse

Andie Diane Palmer (Author)

9780802084354

Paperback / softback, published 19 November 2005

260 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.46 kg

In many North American indigenous cultures, history and stories are passed down, not by the written word, but by oral tradition. In Maps of Experience, Andie Diane Palmer draws on stories recorded during travels through Secwepemc – or Shuswap – hunting and gathering territory with members of the Alkali Lake Reserve in Interior British Columbia. Palmer examines how the various kinds of talk allow knowledge to be carried forward, reconstituted, reflected upon, enriched, and ultimately relocated by and for new interlocutors in new experiences and places.

Maps of Experience demonstrates how the Secwepemc engagement in the traditional practices of hunting and gathering create shared lived experiences between individuals, while recreating a known social context in which existing knowledge of the land may be effectively shared and acted upon. When the narratives of fellow travellers are pooled through discursive exchange, they serve as what can be considered a ‘map of experience,’ providing the basis of shared understanding and social relationship to territory. Palmer's analysis of ways of listening and conveying information within the Alkali Lake community brings new insights into indigenous language and culture, as well as to the study of oral history, ethnohistory, experimental ethnography, and discourse analysis.

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

Notes on Language, Transcription, and Pronunciation

  1. Introduction: A Discourse-Centred Approach to Understanding
  2. A Brief History of Responses to Colonialism
  3. Living on the Land
  4. Maps
  5. Story
  6. Memories
  7. Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Appendix: Selected Transcriptions

Notes

References

Index

View full details