Critical Journal Respondse for Lesson 5-8. History Essay

Assignment
Name
Institution
Critical Journal Response for Lesson 5-8
Lesson 5: Theoretical Approaches
This week’s lesson was very informative. Nanabush’s story, in particular, caught me thinking about the indigenous life and the superstitions that were connected with it. It is amazing how people believe a being was sent by the creator to interact with life across the land of the living. It is heartwarming that Nanabush came for the good of the living and to preserve the sacredness of life. However, the question I kept on asking myself is why Nanabush’s gender was not defined even with the stories published and people having a strong belief about Nanabush, who plays a role model for researchers.
Another unusual thing that I grabbed is how the indigenous people were treated during the colonial times. Sadly, they had to lose their culture, which was the precious thing that brought people together. They also lost their land and the people. Luis (2007) believed that research needs to be done in the right way for good intentions, which is better not done at all because it will misinform the public. Indigenous people should take charge of their culture to avoid misinterpretation and to ensure that research is done the right way.
Lesson 6: Methods: Narrative & Oral Sources
Oral history and written history are both significant and unique in their ways. Indigenous people are in the best position of preserving oral history because they have their culture and other historical events first hand. Oral history brings the indigenous people together as it gives a sense of belonging. However, subsequent generations might narrate a misleading story because narratives are bound to be altered when the narrator has not mastered history well (Cunsolo Willox, 2013). It makes it paramount to store history in written forms. Written history serves all populations equally as long as they have the knowledge and skills to read and understand. Written history can be reproduced into many forms, which is an advantage it has over oral history.
Drumming up for written history is expected in our generation because most people are educated and can comfortably access and use technology. Oral history, too, needs different skills. The listeners need to understand and internalize the story, very prompting the narrator to employ different narrations skills. One needs to know the indigenous culture very well. Body language should communicate to stress on the story. It means the storyteller should be self-conscious. Oral history ends up ore trusted than the written history because people have always made written h...