Lorenzo Cherubini's "The Metamorphosis of an Oral Tradition: Dissonance in the Digital Stories of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada."
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Lorenzo Cherubini. "The Metamorphosis of an Oral Tradition:Dissonance in the Digital Stories of Aboriginal Peoples inCanada." Oral Tradition 23.2 (2008) Project MUSE. 17 August2010. <http://muse.jhu.edu.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/*>.
- Cherubini depicts digital storytelling as ???an extension??? ofthe oral tradition, one that allows non-Aboriginal observers togain insight into the epistemology of Aboriginal culture in anunobtrusive manner. According to Cherubini, digital storytellingmerges the old with the new, by maintaining the first-personnarrative at the forefront, like the elders in the oral tradition,and accompanying the story with ???visual text and symbolicimagery.??? Cherubini???s reflexive ethnographic research consistsof a study of six digital stories from the Omushkegowuk area inOntario, that exemplify the various forms of dissonance experiencedby Aboriginal peoples, as a result of western colonization. Civil,symbolic, and spiritual dissonance within these digital storiesemphasize the importance of community, communion with nature andwildlife, and also reveal the Aboriginal peoples??? awareness ofthe disruptive, oppressive influence of the ???Whiteman???. At thecenter of processes of communication and learning are theAboriginal elders. They are sources of collective memory andcross-generational knowledge, as well as the transmitters ofAboriginal epistemologies. Cherubini states that elders are the???gatekeepers??? of wisdom and recognizes a turn in Aboriginalstorytelling practices, as these spiritual and cultural leadersembrace digital technology to reach a wider audience. Consequently,those on the peripheries of Aboriginal culture, Cherubini argues,must adopt a constructivist approach in engaging with these mediumsso as not to ???obscure??? the meanings of these stories and theepistemologies they present.
