CIRCA:Lorenzo Cherubini. "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 in Canada." Oral Tradition 23.2 (2008) Project MUSE. <http://muse.jhu.edu.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/>. 17 Aug. 2010

Cherubini depicts digital storytelling as “an extension” of the oral tradition, one that allows non-Aboriginal observers to gain insight into the epistemology of Aboriginal culture in an unobtrusive manner. According to Cherubini, digital storytelling merges the old with the new, by maintaining the first-person narrative at the forefront, like the elders in the oral tradition, and accompanying the story with “visual text and symbolic imagery.” Cherubini’s reflexive ethnographic research consists of a study of six digital stories from the Omushkegowuk area in Ontario, that exemplify the various forms of dissonance experienced by Aboriginal peoples, as a result of western colonization. Civil, symbolic, and spiritual dissonance within these digital stories emphasize the importance community, communion with nature and wildlife, and reveal the Aboriginal peoples’ awareness of the disruptive, oppressive influence of the “Whiteman”. At the center of processes of communication and learning are the Aboriginal elders. They are sources of collective memory and cross-generational knowledge, as well as the transmitters and sustainers of Aboriginal epistemologies. Cherubini states that elders are the “gatekeepers” of wisdom and recognizes a turn in Aboriginal storytelling practices, as these spiritual and cultural leaders embrace 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 mediums so as not to “obscure” the meanings of these stories and the epistemologies they present.
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