Pearls of wisdom flow from Aboriginal lips

Page 17

Review

Inkonze: The Stones of Traditional Knowledge

By Phillip R. Coutu and Lorraine Hoffman-Mercredi

Thunderwoman Ethnographics

290 pp., $24.99

The collaborative efforts of Métis, Phillip Coutu, and a Chipewyan Native writer, Lorraine Hoffman-Mercredi, has resulted in the publication of Inkonze: The Stones of Traditional Knowledge, stories about the Dene and the north.

If the word "Inkonze" was in the dictionary it would roughly translate to mean medicine power, spiritual helpers, or the source of supernatural abilities. Most sources explain it as, "to know something a little," and say that it relies on "one's abilities to have relevant dreams."

The merits of oral tradition come alive in this paperback which begs reading by historians, anthropologists, and those interested in Canadiana or Indian culture and history. While this bountiful treatise of the Dene is something of a gem in disguise, one of its glowing elements is the thoroughly researched information it offers to those who can comprehend university-level writing. Nonetheless, it is a book long overdue.

This two-year labor of love and commitment by the co-authors, who are both descended from traditional people in Alberta's northeast, is a fine tribute to a people who the world at large knows so little about.

It is a volume of work that shares experiences, information and knowledge by way of the many personal interviews that were conducted for the book, as well as access to other resources.

Much of the data gathered was by way of field research, archaeological records, grave records, libraries, archives, government documents and the like. The information is also part and parcel of the numerous stories that have managed to find their way through the lips of traditional storytellers, Elders and "those who know." They are stories that have managed to wind their way through the generations of Aboriginal people who persevered in keeping them alive, sharing them with their children and their children's children, so that folks like us might sit back and enjoy the pearls of wisdom.

Inkonze further relies on the insights of ethnologists, explorers and historians who speak to such matters as migration and trading patterns, Chipewyan origins, evidence of the strong Cree presence, Cree war and domination, the arrival of the thunderstick and 18th century smallpox. As well, it explores long-standing stories that surround the notion that Indian occupation on this land came from a trip across the Bering Strait, which, of course, runs contrary to the notion of "reverse migration" as found in the book American Genesis. This book examines the theory that the North American Indian presence originated in the central Americas from where it spread outwards.

Inkonze also delves into the symbolic significance of birds and animals in Aboriginal culture and why and how respect is shown the creatures and plants of Mother Earth. It also says something about the delicate nature of our environment and the need for man to interact with it accordingly.

Legends abound in the book, including stories of Copperwoman and how T tha'maltther struggled to achieve peace between the Chipewyan and Cree, as did Matonabbee.

Although one can safely assume that this publication will never chart up there with the best sellers, it is definitely a valuable instrument in the proper hands for educating the public about a people not well-known or documented over many centuries.

It's a commendable effort that walks the reader through varying phases of Dene history via the age-old tradition of storytelling in all its imagery, coupled with contemporary print methodology. Through this unification, one is able to view with a dash of color and a splash of flavor, a people who have long been ignored and neglected.

It is furthermore, a commendable effort by the authors to achieve one of their primary objectives: to provide a vehicle by which Aboriginal people can rediscover their unique, shared history whih might aid in opening doors that could potentially generate a rebirth of Athabascan pride, unity and identity.