Indigenous Storywork

Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit

By: Jo-Ann Archibald

Narrated by: Jo-Ann Archibald, Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen, Margo Kane

Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Indigenous oral narratives are an important source for, and component of, Coast Salish knowledge systems. Stories are not only to be recounted and passed down; they are also intended as tools for teaching.

Jo-ann Archibald worked closely with Elders and storytellers, who shared both traditional and personal life-experience stories, in order to develop ways of bringing storytelling into educational contexts. Indigenous Storywork is the result of this research and it demonstrates how stories have the power to educate and heal the heart, mind, body, and spirit. It builds on the seven principles of respect, responsibility, reciprocity, reverence, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy that form a framework for understanding the characteristics of stories, appreciating the process of storytelling, establishing a receptive learning context, and engaging in holistic meaning-making.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2008 Jo-Ann Archibald (P)2024 UBC Press

Critic reviews

“This book is well overdue. It shows how and why indigenous storywork is important as an analytical and theoretical tool for understanding and transforming contemporary educational challenges. Dr. Archibald has written an excellent text for teachers, researchers, educationists.”—Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Pro Vice-Chancellor Maori and Professor of Education and Maori Development, University of Waikato

“This text is a gift. The author does exactly what she says a good storyteller will do: she highlights the seven principles, she moves at a pace where I, as the listener, am able to follow, and her content is rich and enticing.”—Bryan Brayboy, Lumbee Principal Investigator, American Indian Teacher Training Program, University of Utah

“[The] author’s self-reflection on the multiple roles she balanced as a researcher is appreciated, and her text serves as an excellent testimonial for the efficacy and successes of researchers working collaboratively with indigenous communities.”—M.A. Rinehart, Valdosta State University, Choice, Vol.46, No.01