Indigenous storywork: Educating the heart, mind, body and spirit (review)

In Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body and Spirit, Jo-ann Archibald uses the woven basket as a metaphor to carry the reader, her companion, along as she takes the Indigenous researcher's journey back to her home to locate the 'Sto:lo theory of storywork' (p. 36). Along the way we learn that storywork, as defined by Archibald, signifies multiple layers of meanings that interweave her cultural signifiers as reference points for an Indigenous methodology foregrounded and highlighted as a valid and valued mode of inquiry. In Archibald's Sto:lo traditions, cultural activities in the long-house are specifically referred to as 'the work,' and, since her goal is to have Indigenous stories accorded the same seriousness as cultural work, she creates a version of storywork inflected with Sto:lo cultural signifiers. Following her introduction, in keeping with First Nations protocol (introducing oneself in relationship to lineage and place), she deftly weaves in quotations from a catalogue of Indigenous scholars, writers, and elders who strongly support the validity of storywork as a much-needed and timely framework for Indigenous methodology and pedagogical practice.

Archibald's style of prose is free of jargon, direct, and accessible to the general reader, yet she offers a theoretical and programmatic discussion of Indigenous storywork that would be extremely useful for non-Indigenous and Indigenous Studies scholars and educators alike. For those working in language education, or with endangered languages, this text would be a pragmatic supplement. Archibald acknowledges her own 'rudimentary understanding' of her Halq'emeylem language and offers the reader a detailed description of the protocols, problems, and suggested remedies in collaborative research relationships with elders fluent in their own languages.

The principles comprising Indigenous storywork are significant teachings that Archibald identifies as underpinnings of Sto:lo cultural practices and that form the base of her framework: responsibility, reciprocity, respect, reverence, holism, synergy, and interrelatedness.

Archibald's direct writing style makes the listener curious, and in her own storywork she models – from chapter 1, 'The Journey Begins,' and throughout her narrative – another Indigenous principle of story-telling: don't give away the entire story, but only a bit at a time. The stories Archibald shares are based on the premise that the audience makes meaning based on their own life experiences. The meanings may not be immediately apparent; these stories usually have deep instructive or moral value, served with humour, and often reflect some foible or folly of human nature. In Archibald's metaphorical cedar basket we find the welcome yet irksome company of Coyote.

In chapter 2, 'Coyote and the Bone Needle,' Coyote has need of his bone needle after a hard day's travel and can't find it. With only the light of the fire to aid his search, he walks in circles close to the fire. When questioned by Owl, who is curious about Coyote's odd behaviour, he responds, 'Well it's easier to look for the needle here because the fire gives off such good light and I can see better here' (p. 36). Whether discussing dichotomies such as orality and literacy or difficult topics such as colonization, Archibald applies the metaphor of Coyote's mismatched eyesight to her own journey of searching for Sto:lo storywork principles. Her research journey demanded that she confront serious and difficult questions: 'Going away from the fire and finding ways to move beyond the history of colonization is hard but necessary work' (p. 36). Archibald further legitimates her Indigenous story-telling methodology in chapter 3, 'Learning about Storywork from Sto:lo Elders,' and chapter 4, 'The Power of Stories to Educate the Heart,' in which she comprehensively covers such topics as protocols for working with elders, 'What Makes a Good Storyteller?,' 'Training for Oratory,' 'Becoming Storytellers: The Role of Mentors and Teachers,' and 'Storytelling Contexts: The Longhouse, Land and Home.'

In chapter 4, Archibald discusses the ephemeral intuitive sense of finding oneself 'inside...