Much of what this reading focused on is the way in which language (and the stories of culture/significance they carry) can be shaped and slowly devalued through a sort of “whitewashing” and English”-ing” of stories and traditions. Silence Before the Void focuses on the stories of the Maliseet people, but can be applied to the theme of cultural and lingual destruction of the Native American tribes that we have discussed in class recently, and how the writing down and passing down IN ENGLISH of their languages and stories is slowly helping in the destruction of those two very same things. Questions that arose for me, both questions for myself to ponder and ones I thought the class would have a great discussion on, were…
- Is it possible to take a “glass half full” approach to this story and extrapolate and positives that come from the translating and retelling of these sacred stories into more commonly used English?
- What are ways in which you can teach these stories and these lessons then without translating, or is it better to keep these stories sacred/secret between their culture and our own?
- What other examples of English-“ing” can we think of that has happened in our history?