I appreciate Brad McCormick's struggle to make himself clear. I believe the
problem is language. We are forced to use it (language), as I am doing now
to address the problem. I've had some success helping beginning English
teachers wrestle with this. Most people seem comfortable with the word
'concept' until I present them with the introduction in Ruth Beebe Hill's
novel "Hanta Yo". Hill states:
>To the Reader
>Admit, assume, because, believe, could, doubt, end, expect, faith, forget,
>forgive, guilt, how, it, mercy, pest, promise, should, sorry, storm, them,
>us, waste, weed- neither these words nor the CONCEPTIONS for which they
>stand appear in this book; they are the whiteman's import to the New
>World, the newcomers contribution to the vocabulary of the man he called
>Indian. Truly the parent Indian families possessed neither these terms
>nor their equivalents". Ruth Beebe Hill, Hanta Yo, Warner Books, 1979 --
>**************************************************
I ask each of you to try to imagine not having as part of your 'self' any
or all of the 24 concepts that the Dakotah people did not have. Play with
the idea of removing 'because' or 'guilt' from your way of thinking,
feeling, speaking, being. Does western science depend on 'because'? How,
beginning as a young child, did you begin to acquire these concepts? And
how are they still changing as you age? Is 'guilt' the same for you now as
it was when you were seven?
What concepts might the Dakotah have had that we do not?
Language, simple stuff, eh?
Brian McAndrews
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* Brian McAndrews, Practicum Coordinator *
* Faculty of Education, Queen's University *
* Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 *
* FAX:(613) 533-6307 Phone (613) 533-6000x74937*
* e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* "Education is not the filling of a pail, *
* but the lighting of a fire. *
* W.B.Yeats *
* *
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