Singing to ancestors

Abstract

The histories of Indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere, written by Western academics, are framed in colonial narratives that erase people, histories, and cultural diversity across place and time. Western scholars have historically claimed that Indigenous people had no written language, and left no recorded history. However, there are volumes of Indigenous histories written on the land and held in oral traditions. Documenting histories was carried out in numerous Indigenous languages, ways, and forms. Indigenous oral traditions are highly sophisticated and often metaphorical creating woven memories through time that accurately describe environmental and cultural changes. Indigenous oral traditions are most often beyond the understanding of Western scholars as they have not become informed of Indigenous languages or cultural practices. However, weaving Indigenous knowledge throughout discussions of Indigenous communities and history decolonises and enriches literature, education, minds, and hearts, informing and confronting racism. Rock art and oral traditions have been linked to environmental changes across thousands of years Rock art and petroglyph sites number in the thousands in both North and South America. Hundreds of archaeological sites that date from over 100,000 years to the present attest to a long a vibrant Indigenous community in the Western Hemisphere.