Post by Okwes on Aug 26, 2006 13:19:36 GMT -5
Oral tradition brings new life to ‘Malian’s Song’
Abenaki side of historic raid sees new light
Written by Jedd Kettler
Thursday, 24 August 2006
It's said that history is written by the victorious, and this has shown itself to be true in much early American history, written down by European settlers, based on their own biases and traditions.
Until recently, that was certainly the case with the well-known story of English Maj. Robert Rogers' attack on the Abenaki village of St. Francis/Odanak in October 1759.
"This is an event in American history that people think they know," said Marge Bruchac, the author of the latest in the Vermont Folklife Center Book series for children, "Malian's Song."
"And for 200 years, no one had heard the Abenaki version of Roger's Raid," said Jeanne Brink, whose family kept the history over generations. "There are two sides to every story."
"Malian's Song," written by Bruchac and based on Brink's family history, retells the story from the Abenaki perspective. The book offers an accurate and authentic account of the events that can open the eyes of children and adults alike to the larger world of traditional oral histories.
'Malian's Song' author Marge Bruchac
Malian's story
The book's accuracy and authenticity come not from the journals of conquerers, but from one Abenaki family's oral history, preserving the vivid memories of a little girl who lost her home and her father.
That little girl's story, supported by other historical documents, challenges not only the well-known version twisted nearly beyond recognition in the movie "Northwest Passage," but the one told in Euro-centric textbooks based on Roger's journals.
Rogers claimed to have killed more than 200 Abenaki, leaving few survivors.
According to Abenaki tradition, though, a Mohican scout working for Rogers warned one of the villagers about the attack the night before, and all but some 40 fled the village. Though all agree the village was destroyed, several sources, including the Abenaki oral tradition, claim that 32 were killed, most of them women and children. For more than two centuries, though, Rogers' version survived above all others.
The girl at the heart of the new book, Malian, carried the story with her, passing the details of the attack along to her young granddaughter, Mali Msadoques, who then passed it on to her young niece – and Jeanne Brink's grandmother – Elvine Obomsawin Royce.
Brink, of Barre, remembers her grandmother in a personal, and not altogether atypical way.
"To me, my grandmother was this elderly lady who had a few eccentric ways and repeated herself a lot," Brink said. "I didn't know she knew this important part of history."
Elvine's way of speaking, though, was part of the preservation of that history.
"By repeating certain words or phrases, it got into your memory," Brink said.
Jeanne Brink.
The oral tradition
While many think of oral history as just a euphemism for "storytelling," the reality of such traditions, as exemplified in Brink's family's story, is not the casual retelling of myths, embellished to amuse friends and family.
"My grandmother wasn't a storyteller," Brink said.
The tradition is truly a form of recording histories and it is careful, deliberate work, this keeping of history.
It is hard enough for many of us to fathom — with our reliance on the written word as the only repository for history — that the story survived intact, detailed and accurate, through 200 years of oral history. Even more astounding, though, is that there were only three keepers of that story in the course of those two centuries.
"That's the guts of oral tradition. That's the real key," Bruchac said.
Many think of oral tradition as one step up from the "telephone game" in which a story is twisted and unrecognizable by the time it is told again, but that isn't the case.
"That only happens if it's treated in a casual manner," Bruchac said.
For the Abenaki and other Native oral traditions, and certainly in the case of young Malian's story, the history was kept much more carefully than that.
"It's not just speaking words into the air, but having an entire body of knowledge," Bruchac said.
The choice of who was taught the history was not lightly made, and the teaching began at a young age, with details slowly given and often repeated.
"And when they become old, they start that process again," creating a direct line of transmission from the elder woman to the very young girl, Bruchac said of the bearers of oral history.
Elvine Royce and her granddaughters, Jeanne Brink and sister Joyce, in 1949.
The challenge
Elvine carried the story with her for decades. The 20th century, though — which Bruchac refers to as "the dark ages" — brought new challenges to the oral tradition that Elvine was meant to preserve.
In the face of Vermont's eugenics movement and other racist attitudes in the 20th century, many Abenaki traditions, including the language, struggled secretly to survive.
"It was just such a scary time to be out about being an Indian," Bruchac said.
Though Abenaki was Elvine's first language, generations that followed were not taught it, in hopes that they would blend in with the rest of society. Among Brink's generation, which traditionally would have received Malian's story, there were few Abenaki who spoke the language.
Still Elvine found a way to pass the history along. Almost exactly 200 years after Roger's attack, she told the story — in the original Abenaki language, as she had learned it — to noted ethnologist Dr. Gordon Day.
Brink later rediscovered that recording and brought the story to the Folklife Center.
From oral to written
"Malian's Song" not only tells a side of history that has not been heard.
"It also tries to draw the reader into a particular moment in time," Bruchac said. Part of this is giving a new face to a people that were at that time called "savages," and who today have only recently been recognized by the state as still existing at all.
Bruchac worked extensively with illustrator William Maughan to ensure that the paintings showing young Malian's life were historically accurate, depicting life in the Abenaki village as it truly was.
Bruchac sent him many photos of real people, historic tools and clothes.
"The faces and gestures are modeled loosely on real people," Bruchac said. "For me, that's so refreshing, because you so often see children's books that are stereotypical."
While the story itself is a brutal one, Bruchac said that by concentrating only on what Malian sees and knows, it can be digestible for young readers.
"This was a safe way to do this story for young children," Bruchac said, "to grasp the loss, to understand the fear of the other and how that fear goes both ways."
But she also hopes the book can open a window to "a universal experience of what it is like to be a young girl." There are also other, larger themes the book delves into.
"I like to think that what I'm trying to do is ... to offer some perspective on why these things happen," Bruchac said. "What happens if you start to think about the impact of war on little children?"
The Vermont Folklife Center is also hosting A Tribute to Jeanne Brink on Friday, Sept. 8 from 4-7 p.m. at the Shelburne Farms Coach Barn. The event will feature Abenaki arts, with Bruchac and brother Joe sharing stories and music at 5:30 p.m., and the W'Abenaki Dancers at 6 p.m.
Much more information on the source material and historical data behind the story told in "Malian's Song" can be found on the Vermont Folklife website, www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/childrens-books/index.shtml.
The extensive material on the site includes audio recordings, photographs, further historical background and a more detailed version of the essay included in the book.
Last Updated ( Friday, 25 August 2006 )
www.thecountycourier.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3276&Itemid
Abenaki side of historic raid sees new light
Written by Jedd Kettler
Thursday, 24 August 2006
It's said that history is written by the victorious, and this has shown itself to be true in much early American history, written down by European settlers, based on their own biases and traditions.
Until recently, that was certainly the case with the well-known story of English Maj. Robert Rogers' attack on the Abenaki village of St. Francis/Odanak in October 1759.
"This is an event in American history that people think they know," said Marge Bruchac, the author of the latest in the Vermont Folklife Center Book series for children, "Malian's Song."
"And for 200 years, no one had heard the Abenaki version of Roger's Raid," said Jeanne Brink, whose family kept the history over generations. "There are two sides to every story."
"Malian's Song," written by Bruchac and based on Brink's family history, retells the story from the Abenaki perspective. The book offers an accurate and authentic account of the events that can open the eyes of children and adults alike to the larger world of traditional oral histories.
'Malian's Song' author Marge Bruchac
Malian's story
The book's accuracy and authenticity come not from the journals of conquerers, but from one Abenaki family's oral history, preserving the vivid memories of a little girl who lost her home and her father.
That little girl's story, supported by other historical documents, challenges not only the well-known version twisted nearly beyond recognition in the movie "Northwest Passage," but the one told in Euro-centric textbooks based on Roger's journals.
Rogers claimed to have killed more than 200 Abenaki, leaving few survivors.
According to Abenaki tradition, though, a Mohican scout working for Rogers warned one of the villagers about the attack the night before, and all but some 40 fled the village. Though all agree the village was destroyed, several sources, including the Abenaki oral tradition, claim that 32 were killed, most of them women and children. For more than two centuries, though, Rogers' version survived above all others.
The girl at the heart of the new book, Malian, carried the story with her, passing the details of the attack along to her young granddaughter, Mali Msadoques, who then passed it on to her young niece – and Jeanne Brink's grandmother – Elvine Obomsawin Royce.
Brink, of Barre, remembers her grandmother in a personal, and not altogether atypical way.
"To me, my grandmother was this elderly lady who had a few eccentric ways and repeated herself a lot," Brink said. "I didn't know she knew this important part of history."
Elvine's way of speaking, though, was part of the preservation of that history.
"By repeating certain words or phrases, it got into your memory," Brink said.
Jeanne Brink.
The oral tradition
While many think of oral history as just a euphemism for "storytelling," the reality of such traditions, as exemplified in Brink's family's story, is not the casual retelling of myths, embellished to amuse friends and family.
"My grandmother wasn't a storyteller," Brink said.
The tradition is truly a form of recording histories and it is careful, deliberate work, this keeping of history.
It is hard enough for many of us to fathom — with our reliance on the written word as the only repository for history — that the story survived intact, detailed and accurate, through 200 years of oral history. Even more astounding, though, is that there were only three keepers of that story in the course of those two centuries.
"That's the guts of oral tradition. That's the real key," Bruchac said.
Many think of oral tradition as one step up from the "telephone game" in which a story is twisted and unrecognizable by the time it is told again, but that isn't the case.
"That only happens if it's treated in a casual manner," Bruchac said.
For the Abenaki and other Native oral traditions, and certainly in the case of young Malian's story, the history was kept much more carefully than that.
"It's not just speaking words into the air, but having an entire body of knowledge," Bruchac said.
The choice of who was taught the history was not lightly made, and the teaching began at a young age, with details slowly given and often repeated.
"And when they become old, they start that process again," creating a direct line of transmission from the elder woman to the very young girl, Bruchac said of the bearers of oral history.
Elvine Royce and her granddaughters, Jeanne Brink and sister Joyce, in 1949.
The challenge
Elvine carried the story with her for decades. The 20th century, though — which Bruchac refers to as "the dark ages" — brought new challenges to the oral tradition that Elvine was meant to preserve.
In the face of Vermont's eugenics movement and other racist attitudes in the 20th century, many Abenaki traditions, including the language, struggled secretly to survive.
"It was just such a scary time to be out about being an Indian," Bruchac said.
Though Abenaki was Elvine's first language, generations that followed were not taught it, in hopes that they would blend in with the rest of society. Among Brink's generation, which traditionally would have received Malian's story, there were few Abenaki who spoke the language.
Still Elvine found a way to pass the history along. Almost exactly 200 years after Roger's attack, she told the story — in the original Abenaki language, as she had learned it — to noted ethnologist Dr. Gordon Day.
Brink later rediscovered that recording and brought the story to the Folklife Center.
From oral to written
"Malian's Song" not only tells a side of history that has not been heard.
"It also tries to draw the reader into a particular moment in time," Bruchac said. Part of this is giving a new face to a people that were at that time called "savages," and who today have only recently been recognized by the state as still existing at all.
Bruchac worked extensively with illustrator William Maughan to ensure that the paintings showing young Malian's life were historically accurate, depicting life in the Abenaki village as it truly was.
Bruchac sent him many photos of real people, historic tools and clothes.
"The faces and gestures are modeled loosely on real people," Bruchac said. "For me, that's so refreshing, because you so often see children's books that are stereotypical."
While the story itself is a brutal one, Bruchac said that by concentrating only on what Malian sees and knows, it can be digestible for young readers.
"This was a safe way to do this story for young children," Bruchac said, "to grasp the loss, to understand the fear of the other and how that fear goes both ways."
But she also hopes the book can open a window to "a universal experience of what it is like to be a young girl." There are also other, larger themes the book delves into.
"I like to think that what I'm trying to do is ... to offer some perspective on why these things happen," Bruchac said. "What happens if you start to think about the impact of war on little children?"
The Vermont Folklife Center is also hosting A Tribute to Jeanne Brink on Friday, Sept. 8 from 4-7 p.m. at the Shelburne Farms Coach Barn. The event will feature Abenaki arts, with Bruchac and brother Joe sharing stories and music at 5:30 p.m., and the W'Abenaki Dancers at 6 p.m.
Much more information on the source material and historical data behind the story told in "Malian's Song" can be found on the Vermont Folklife website, www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/childrens-books/index.shtml.
The extensive material on the site includes audio recordings, photographs, further historical background and a more detailed version of the essay included in the book.
Last Updated ( Friday, 25 August 2006 )
www.thecountycourier.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3276&Itemid