Twenty-second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

In an era dominated by the powerful rationalisms of science-technology and economics-commerce, those of us connected to and champions of the humanities must accept the call to serve as prophets. In other words, we must speak in the unsettling spaces of interdisciplinarity, diversity, and globalization and remind people how to be human in light of the past and how to become human amidst the domineering forces of the present. The oral storytelling tradition and the work of Native American authors serve as potential guides. Together, they illustrate how the wisdom of the past can travel, transform, and renegotiate not only what it means to be human in the twenty-first century but the place of the humanities in the university and the world. To explore such, this paper/presentation first examines the adaptability of the oral storytelling tradition. Second, it considers how Native American authors such as Joy Harjo and Leslie Marmon Silko have used the oral storytelling in their work to help them chart and negotiate their place in the Western world and in the English language. Finally, it posits that the versatility of the oral storytelling tradition can serve as a model for helping us speak as prophets and chart new pathways across disciplines and educational modalities.