3. TPatT - Indigenous Texts in French | The People and the Text

: L ’Odawa Pontiac; This novel tells the story of Pontiac, undisputed Leader of the Great Lakes and ally of the French. Despite his many vistories, he was eventually defeated by the English. The book includes a glossary of words that are not found in conventional dictionaries and a chronology of contemporary events during Pontiac’s lifetime.

: L' apprentissage; The author describes the advent of evangelization in the Upper-Mauricie region of Quebec and the detrimental effect it had on the Atikamekw people. During residential school he believed he too would become a missionary. However, with the advent of the late 1960s, the “pseudo-intellectuals,” John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix and his discovery of the American Indian Movement, he found a way to “relearn”; and through the Elders’ teachings, to reconnect with traditional education and with “the great Atikamekw Nation.”

: La Médecine des Indiens d’Amérique; Following a modern trend of health care during the 1980’s, this book can be seen as what is commonly dubbed a compendium of “alternative medicine”: beautifully illustrated, it includes a comprehensive taxonomy of plants and their properties and uses. But the book also speaks to Indigenous peoples’ awareness of the danger of extinction of traditional knowledge and seeks to depict the fundamental values that people living close to the land possessed.

: La Nation huronne; The author spent several years researching and studying the language, culture and customs of the Huron nation; this book is a testimony to her efforts. Along with Pierre Savignac, she also put together three crucial works on Huron grammar and vocabulary (unpublished).

: La Prise en charge. Témoignage d’un Montagnais. Tipeli mitishun. Ilnu utipatshimun; This bilingual book is a testimony, that of an Innu from Mashteuiatsh, to take – or regain – control. He speaks of education, hunting, marriage, family, life and work in the forest, traditional practices and remedies, but also about being band chief and of the impacts of alcohol on his community. He calls for the integration of traditional knowledge within modern practices and appeals to his people to continue this “taking control” of their lives., While we have indicated a primary genre, there is a need to better represent Indigenous writings and contemplate how some fall outside the traditional fiction/non-fiction binary., While we have indicated a primary genre, there is a need to better represent Indigenous writings and contemplate how some fall outside the traditional fiction/non-fiction binary.

: La faim justifie les moyens; This poem speaks of Frankfurt’s quadrennial culinary competition, the World Culinary Olympics. In 1992, a team of 5 Indigenous chefs won 11 medals including 7 gold, putting Indigenous cuisine on the map.

: La fête à Arthur.” La fête à Arthur; Homage to filmmaker Arthur Lamothe, whose films about the Innu challenged many stereotypes.

: La littérature autochtone d’hier et d’aujourd’hui; The author looks back at 400 years of “literary history”: a variety of complex orature practices explained and dissected predominently by anthropologists and ethnologists, leading to the idea that a culture “without [written] literature” was a “savage” culture. From birch bark to wampums to basket weaving, the author lists numerous examples of “living books” that account for highly organized, socially, politically and culturally evolved civilizations.

: La légende du vent du Nord et Nekicik; A long time ago, there was no winter, only summer, although the four directions existed. Nekicik, a young rabbit, befriended the wind from the North. He played a trick on his friend and the wind got so angry that he blew until it snowed. The other winds attempted to calm him down but to no avail. Nekicik blew away as far as the South pole, where he found the wind of the South almost covered in snow. Nekicik figured he had to journey back to the North to appease his friend and burrowed in the snow so as not to get blinded by the sun’s reflection on the snow. He emerged all white, and that is why rabbits’ fur turns white during the winter. One month later he arrived back in the North where the wind of the North was exhauted as well. Seeing Nekicik, the wind calmed and took his friend in his arms. Exhausted and freezing, Nekicik fell asleep; the wind thought his friend had died and called the other three winds for help, but they were trapped under the snow. He cried so much that torrential waters covered the lands, and thawed the snow. The other winds blew so as to put things back in balance. Nekicik apologized for scaring his friend and the four winds agreed to share their powers so that things would never be out of balance again

: La rosée matinale; End of summer/early fall, a group is at their hunting camp. They have just finished dinner when one of the boys approaches and says he fell on the ground and is now all wet, despite it not having rained in days. The men laugh, but the narrator explains they are “the tears of a young woman who could not marry the man she loved.” The story had been told to the narrator by his grandfather: a young, beautiful girl, with whom all the young men were smitten, showed no interest in them. People in the village berated her, suggesting perhaps she prefered girls. But her heart belonged to someone else; but since he was of the same clan as her, they would not be allowed to wed. Having no one else to speak with, she tells her mother, who gets angry. The young woman flees and cries until she has no tears left; isolating herself, the village gossips even more about her. One day she overhears her secret love propose to another girl and runs away to the forest. The next morning a search party finds her dead, her body surrounded by tiny drops of water glistening in the morning sun – there had never been morning dew before that., While we have indicated a primary genre, there is a need to better represent Indigenous writings and contemplate how some fall outside the traditional fiction/non-fiction binary., While we have indicated a primary genre, there is a need to better represent Indigenous writings and contemplate how some fall outside the traditional fiction/non-fiction binary.

: La saga des Béothuks; In The Beothuk Saga, the author combines history, ethnology, and a multi-generational epic storyline to tell the story of Newfoundland’s now-extinct Beothuk people. The story is told in three parts: the first takes place around 1000 AD, when Vikings arrive in Newfoundland as the Beothuk Anin is travelling by boat along the coast. This section describes Anin’s internal transformation from follower to leader and also introduces readers to Beothuk civilization and the forces that shaped it. The second and third parts concentrate on initial contact with Europeans, colonization, and extinction. Here Assiniwi covers more events, but as a result loses the subtleties of the first part. Characters are briefly sketched, the author reveals little about motivations or personalities, and individual Beothuks are diminished in comparison to events in the historical timeline. However, if the artistry suffers somewhat in the last two-thirds of the book, Assiniwi’s intelligence and overall vision more than make up for it. He describes how aboriginal people have always welcomed and even benefitted from cultural exchange and interbreeding, but also shows how colonialism was not an exchange but an imposition. Most importantly, Assiniwi – who has chided aboriginal people for misinterpreting their own spirituality – uses Anin to present aboriginal spirituality as an individual process, not a dogmatic, rule-based club that requires cult-like thinking. This novel keeps a culture alive and uses its history to explain current-day issues – a remarkable achievement (Quill & Quire).

: Laissez-moi vous raconter…; In this short piece, the author reflects on solitude and writing. Two years after leaving his community, he finds himself to be always waiting, watching, searching. He sets out to tell a fishing story: when he was young, he was playing in the forest with his two brothers. He describes the beauty and freshness of the wind, the lake, having tea and bread and fat, catching trout. He knows at the end of the day he has to go home, “back to civilization”; and then to school. The author emphasizes the importance of these small moments and memories, as they open mind and heart.

Indigenous Writing to 1992

The People and the Text

3. TPatT - Indigenous Texts in French

Pages

Pages