Microlecture 2 Reflection

When watching Microlecture 2, I was impressed by the variety of ways indigenous communities documented information. I was reminded of the "John Smith" problem from Microlecture 1 and the history of colonizers only seeing what they want to see. When examining early literature, my guess is that historians originally only looked for examples of literature that they wanted to see; ie. literature that looked like prose English writing.

Yet now, more and more people are understanding that the Anglo-Saxon view of literature is not the only way to define it. I agree that indigenous literature is multimedia, as evidenced by the different examples shown in Microlecture 2. After learning about quipus, wampum belts, medicine bundles, and more, I was continuously impressed by the complexity of ideas they showcased. A common saying is that a picture shows a thousand words. I think indigenous pieces of literature must show thousands. They illustrate histories, numerical accounts, messages, beliefs, stories, and more in such an intricate way.

In this way, Microlecture
2 gave me a greater appreciation for indigenous culture. It also affected my reading of There There. The novel constantly plays with the idea of prejudice and misguided sight, which mirrors the white colonizer's misguided perception of indigenous people. There There also builds on the idea of multimedia indigenous storytelling through storytelling mediums like Dene's video and oral tradition about indigenous legends. Finally, I gain a deeper appreciation for There There because I recognize that it is joining a complex and beautiful legacy of indigenous canon.