Post by Okwes on Jan 31, 2007 10:35:39 GMT -5
Researching Indian rhetoric John A. Berteaux Connections
www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/16159673.htm
<http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/16159673.ht\
m> Prof. Ernest Stromberg stopped by my home last week to share a pot
of coffee and discuss his new book American Indian Rhetorics of
Survivance. An associate professor in the Department of English,
Communication and Journalism, Ernie travels to California State
University-Monterey Bay from a trim home in Seaside where he lives with
his wife, Sherry. He grew up in Arcata. In Arcata, he advises,
"Diversity meant Native American people." But in other parts of the
United States, from Humboldt State University, where he received his
bachelor's degree to Eugene, Ore., where he wrote his dissertation about
American Indian Literatures, to Harrisburg, Va., where he taught at
James Madison University before moving to the Peninsula, Ernie found,
"it easy to forget that American Indians continue to exist." Growing
up with American Indian kids in school and sleeping over he noted early
on that the idea of Indians in the popular media and the life he saw his
friends living were quite different. Seamlessly, he ties his childhood
experiences into a central idea in the book. "From first contact," Ernie
warns, "for American Indians the problem was mental as well as
physical... When they got here Europeans had already conceived the
individual." I took him to mean that nonwhite and white were not simply
descriptive terms of skin color; rather, from first contact they were
used for social categorization, social control and social relationships.
America's indigenous population acknowledged and used to their advantage
the fact that the way they spoke (and looked) stood in for intellect,
moral sense and character. They acknowledged that there is a connection
between the language we use and stories we tell. I recalled something
attributed to French linguist Saussure, who asks us to think about what
had to be overcome to say "Black is beautiful." This is something that
came out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Up until the time
that someone said "black is beautiful," black was considered ugly,
dirty, and stupid. And then someone said "black is beautiful." According
to Saussure this wasn't just saying something new; rather, it was
conceiving the world in a way it had not been imagined before. "So
American Indians recognized in their initial encounter with Europeans
that we don't speak language so much as language speaks us?" I chimed
in. Ernie nodded in agreement. I asked about the word "survivance" that
appears in the title. "It ties in," he says. "The book is about
'rhetorics of survivance.'" Survival suggests images of someone just
hanging on -- on the edge of existence. "Survivance," he quotes the
text, "goes beyond mere survival to acknowledge the dynamic and creative
nature of indigenous rhetorics." He writes, from the early debates about
treaty rights and native lands to present day controversies about
casinos and team mascots America's indigenous populations continue to
draw on the art of persuasion. Nevertheless, Ernie adds, "While
rhetorical studies have been enriched by important research done in
women studies and African American rhetoric the rhetorical practices of
America's indigenous people remain significantly incomplete." To begin
filling that gap in our knowledge, Ernie has produced an edited
collection that is worthy of note, unique, readable, and accessible for
a non-academic audience.
www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/16159673.htm
<http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/16159673.ht\
m> Prof. Ernest Stromberg stopped by my home last week to share a pot
of coffee and discuss his new book American Indian Rhetorics of
Survivance. An associate professor in the Department of English,
Communication and Journalism, Ernie travels to California State
University-Monterey Bay from a trim home in Seaside where he lives with
his wife, Sherry. He grew up in Arcata. In Arcata, he advises,
"Diversity meant Native American people." But in other parts of the
United States, from Humboldt State University, where he received his
bachelor's degree to Eugene, Ore., where he wrote his dissertation about
American Indian Literatures, to Harrisburg, Va., where he taught at
James Madison University before moving to the Peninsula, Ernie found,
"it easy to forget that American Indians continue to exist." Growing
up with American Indian kids in school and sleeping over he noted early
on that the idea of Indians in the popular media and the life he saw his
friends living were quite different. Seamlessly, he ties his childhood
experiences into a central idea in the book. "From first contact," Ernie
warns, "for American Indians the problem was mental as well as
physical... When they got here Europeans had already conceived the
individual." I took him to mean that nonwhite and white were not simply
descriptive terms of skin color; rather, from first contact they were
used for social categorization, social control and social relationships.
America's indigenous population acknowledged and used to their advantage
the fact that the way they spoke (and looked) stood in for intellect,
moral sense and character. They acknowledged that there is a connection
between the language we use and stories we tell. I recalled something
attributed to French linguist Saussure, who asks us to think about what
had to be overcome to say "Black is beautiful." This is something that
came out of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Up until the time
that someone said "black is beautiful," black was considered ugly,
dirty, and stupid. And then someone said "black is beautiful." According
to Saussure this wasn't just saying something new; rather, it was
conceiving the world in a way it had not been imagined before. "So
American Indians recognized in their initial encounter with Europeans
that we don't speak language so much as language speaks us?" I chimed
in. Ernie nodded in agreement. I asked about the word "survivance" that
appears in the title. "It ties in," he says. "The book is about
'rhetorics of survivance.'" Survival suggests images of someone just
hanging on -- on the edge of existence. "Survivance," he quotes the
text, "goes beyond mere survival to acknowledge the dynamic and creative
nature of indigenous rhetorics." He writes, from the early debates about
treaty rights and native lands to present day controversies about
casinos and team mascots America's indigenous populations continue to
draw on the art of persuasion. Nevertheless, Ernie adds, "While
rhetorical studies have been enriched by important research done in
women studies and African American rhetoric the rhetorical practices of
America's indigenous people remain significantly incomplete." To begin
filling that gap in our knowledge, Ernie has produced an edited
collection that is worthy of note, unique, readable, and accessible for
a non-academic audience.