Storytelling is a foundational element of Indigenous oral cultures, where it has
a key epistemological, pedagogical and healing role and assures knowledge
transmission and community relationality. This essay examines how
Indigenous writers Jeanette Armstrong and Lee Maracle use their traditions
of orature as part of their activist agenda to promote a decolonization of the
patriarchal mindset and prompt humanity to embrace an ethics of ‘relational
ecology’ which restores reverence and respect for Mother Earth. Their stories
can help both Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers to embrace a collective
process of healing from multiple forms of colonial violence.
