Readings 10/8/08

“Every Day is a Good Day” Chapters 1, 2

These chapters are stories about the lives of Native American women, as told from their perspectives. It is a great collection of stories, vital to understanding what it is like to be a indigenous woman in contemporary society.

One quote that was interesting for me was the one that went, “Outsiders are always admonishing Native women to forget about history and the past, but history is woven into the very fabric of their daily lives” (“Harvest Moon”, 6). To me this quote illustrates the fact that there is still a difference between cultures that need to be respected. Though the stories are about living between cultures and finding a comfortable zone in between the two, with the zone changing depending on the person who finds themselves in that situation.

The other section on ceremony was an interesting look at how the religions of the Native women impact their lives, for those who practice their cultural religion and the others who practice other Western religions instead. It is an interesting look at the cultural appropriation on the part of outsiders who mean well, and the ways communities see the world through their culture in a way different from most other cultures in North America. What I thought was interesting was that they noted how people were separated from their culture as they came here for various reasons, and with that lost their connection to the land their respective cultures had. While there have been a few “ancient cultures” such as the Chinese who have been able to maintain their cultural identity with their migration, as noted on page 14, for the most part people lost their ancestral lands, culture and therefore their identity.

“Strong Women Stories” Introduction, Chapter 1

“For Native women, finding our voices is also about articulating the circumstances we encounter as we work to bring about social change” (Lawrence, 17).   

That quote summarizes this book, which is a collection of stories and writings about life and experiences the authors have lived through. In the first chapter, called “Where the Spirits Live: Women Rebuilidng a Non-Status Mi’Kmaq Community” by Gertie Mai Muise one of the most striking sentences I noticed was right at the beginning when it stated, “Violence against [us women] at home remains commonplace and socially accepted, yet there’s not a single man who would intentionally tempt a Mi’kmaq woman’s scorn” (Muise, 25). It is something people in that community have to deal with, and so they talk about it in their stories. That violence may be ugly, but it is reality and so they try to deal with it in their way.

That is what I liked about the story. The author alternates between telling the history of her people in addition to how things are in the present day as they try to gain sovereignty and recognition from the government.