Short Reflections on the Practice of Talkstory

Melissa Santos, University of Manitoba

In the novel The Journey Home/ Te Haerenga Kainga by Cathie Dunsford, the concept of talkstory is developed.  Simply put, talkstory is a process of telling a story that is significant and relevant to the individual.  In the novel, talkstory is used to relate across cultures, to create a space where stories can be heard, and experiences can be shared.  The concept of talkstory sets the stage for breaking down barriers within the novel; however, if we take talkstory out of the context of the novel and use it in our everyday lives, the possibilities could be endless.

The theme found throughout the novel The Journey Home, is the concept of breaking boundaries, the main character Cowrie uses talkstory to get her students to recognize the similarities among them even though they come from different cultures and backgrounds.  If we think about the context of the novel as a micro-level example of how talkstory works, we can begin to see how it could be applied on a larger scale.  Prior to the introduction of talkstory, the group of women were fighting to get their opinions heard while claiming one as right and others as wrong.  This form of opposition and individualism is one that is reflective of Western traditions, and ultimately causes the group to divide and form barriers.  The use of talkstory allows the group of women to hear each other and more importantly relate to one another; while our cultures and traditions may be different, there are things that we can all relate to and understand.  The concept of talkstory is applied to the academic world, which is definitely a place to start; within the institution of academia we learn about a specific type of knowledge, the knowledge we learn is one that comes out of the dominant discourses that we work within on a daily basis.  The simple recognition that our way of knowing is not the only way brings us one step closer to relating to each other and ultimately breaks down the barriers and boundaries that traditionally separate “us” from “them”.  The individualistic mentality that we engage in, closes our minds to the alternate ways of being in the world.  Ultimately, if we could learn to value other people’s traditions, cultures, and beliefs rather than trying to arrange ourselves in hierarchical orders, we learn more and expand the ways we interpret the world.  By talking and sharing our stories we unveil the raw emotion that is contained in our experience, simply writing down opinions and experiences does not do anybody justice, when we hear it we remember it.  We are all connected in that we have the ability to feel and sympathize, if we take that emotion out of the equation, it enables us to disregard others’ experiences and knowledge as not legitimate or of no value to us.

Talkstory allows us to break down barriers, it is a useful tool that should be adopted in several institutions within our society; transforming the way we think about culture, and the way we relate to one another is an important starting point for social change.  If we are all aware that there is not one way of knowing or experiencing the world around us, that knowledge will be reflected in our actions.

Jenel Shaw, University of Manitoba

“Talkstory” is an oral practice. It is a way for people to get together and tell their own stories as well as to listen to other stories.

In the novel The Journey Home by Cathie Dunsford, a group of students decide to start a “talkstory” group. They begin to share their cultural stories such as Uretsete who tells the story of the Rainbow Bridge. The classmates also speak about personal experiences such as Suzanne who felt like “…a fat outsider in a thin-loving, redneck culture” (171). Another topic that the students cover is family history such as D.K. who speaks of her Polish grandfather who survived the holocaust. All the students begin to develop a bond with each other which can be attributed to “talkstory”. By sharing your personal, cultural and historical stories others are able to understand a new perspective.

I believe that “talkstory” is a great way to make bonds between people. You tend to have more invested in a story when you hear someone talk about it than if you had just read it. There is an emotional aspect that can be lost when a story is written down. Another important aspect of “talkstory” is when you are performing “talkstory” whoever is talking is allowed to say their whole story without being interrupted. Many people’s stories are simply not heard because they are constantly quieted or ignored. With “talkstory” there is a sense of respect that is present.

I also believe that “talkstory” is useful to cross all types of boundaries. As everyone tells their stories you begin to realise how much you have in common. While there are many myths and stories that are different in cultures, there seems to be at times a common theme. You begin to realise that people you may have not had much in common with are more similar than you believed. The oratory nature of “talkstory” causes you to listen more closely and experience the emotions along with the speaker.

Lastly I believe that “talkstory” is important because of its educational value. By listening to other stories you can sometimes pick out certain messages or life lessons that are present. This may prevent you from repeating the same mistakes in your own life. We all have something that we can teach others and we can also all learn something from others.

As I look to my own life and the world around me, I have noticed that “talkstory” is not as absent from my daily life as I first believed. It is used in therapy groups as a way of dealing with issues, and I have also realised that I perform it every Friday with my girlfriends as we sit around and speak of our experiences of the past week. I find that “talkstory” is important for bonding people, healing issues, and learning. I would find it very beneficial if I were to come across “talkstory” more often in my life.

Sara Hill, University of Manitoba

Talkstory is the sharing of personal stories about your own life with another person or group of people in order to enhance understanding between people regardless of their differing locations. I think talkstory is really about sharing personal experiences with others in order to help them understand the wider culture, and by extension their own attitudes and beliefs, through the narrative description of individual experiences. They are a way of getting beyond the dominant discourses and discovering subjugated knowledges that we may have had no awareness of before.
Suzanne’s sharing of her story with the group about what it was like “growing up fat in a thin-loving, redneck culture” (171), is a good example of talkstory from The Journey Home. Suzanne has worried earlier that since she was white that she didn’t fit into the group and therefore had no story to tell. This example shows us how all of us have stories to share, even if we think we may not have any.
I think the whole concept of talkstory is fabulous. A lot of times we don’t take the time to actually listen to what other people have to say, we are either too busy thinking of how we are going to respond, judging the other person, or thinking of how the story being told reflects on us and then become defensive. One of the things that makes talkstory so powerful is that it is just the story itself, no direct analysis or interpretation of its wider implications because “analysis breaks it apart, cracks the egg and destroys its life, rather than giving birth to new energy” (145). Also, the fact that there isn’t a process of judging involved makes it possible for people to share things with others that they generally aren’t encouraged to share or would feel comfortable sharing.

Not only is talkstory an almost therapeutic experience for the person telling the story, listening is a really effective way of beginning to understand people whose identities and experiences are completely foreign or whose lives we have never stopped to think about. Because talkstory and the comments it makes on culture and society are rooted in personal experiences and stories, the ideas being communicated become more intelligible and accessible to others than when the same ideas are presented in a lecturing or editorialising way. It’s very easy to disagree or discard the way other people tell us they think things are than to disbelieve the way someone describes their experience of a specific situation in their own lives. That’s what makes talkstory such a useful tool for understanding across a multitude of boundaries; talkstory makes it possible to gain insights that we would not otherwise be able to access or accept in any other form.

An example of a situation where talkstory could have been used to improve understanding between different groups is discussed in Zoë Newman’s “The bisexuality wars: The perils of identity as marginality.” Newman discusses the controversy that occurred within the Toronto-based group Jewish Feminist Action over the existence or non-existence of biphobia. In that situation, instead of arguing over whether biphobia exists and who is oppressing whom, if the women in the group had shared their experiences of feeling oppressed personally, both as lesbians and bisexual women, it may have been possible for them to reach an understanding of each other’s positions and avoided breaking up the group. By using personal narratives they could have gotten their messages across while avoiding much of judgement and argument that did occur. If talkstory could have been helpful in this situation then the number of other situations where it could be helpful must be almost endless.

The Beauty of Talkstory
Laura Hildebrand, University of Manitoba

“Talkstory,” the concept introduced by Dr. Cathie Dunsford in her novel entitled The Journey Home/Te Haerenga Kainga, is the use of oral storytelling to share ourselves with others. The practice of talkstory has the potential to “draw out previously unrecorded material from participants” (203). Moreover, talkstory is “an astute way to get everyone discussing the issues […] in their own tradition, allowing others a way in rather than challenging an individual” (281). Central to talkstory is the balance between expressing yourself (a focus on the individual) and wanting to connect with others (a focus on the other). The main character of this novel, Cowrie, develops the idea of talkstory based on her Maori storytelling culture, as an alternative to the academic (“postmodern!”) conventions, which are an outgrowth of Eurocentric tradition, and not applicable to the post-colonial cultures, and their literature, which she is interested in.

One powerful example of talkstory in this novel occurs on page 266, where several members of Siliyik, the storytelling group, share talkstory at a performance: “Uretsete tells the story of her birth […] and Ruth links this with an ancient Yiddish tale of naming […] then DK recalls the survival of her Polish grandfather in the Nazi death camps” (266). However, what I found the most moving about this anecdote is the description of “women of different nationalities, all telling their stories, eager to explore the links that have been sparked by the performance” (267). This is the “few who cannot seem to leave” (267), a beautiful description of the powerful connections forged by an evening of open sharing and caring for each other’s stories and journeys.

Talkstory can bring people together across the boundaries of race, class, and sexuality because it is an inclusive practice that focuses on finding similarities between people, while also, positively, recognizing the richness of difference. It is this awareness and recognition of the power in both sameness and difference that makes talkstory so strong, and has the potential to bring people together in meaningful ways. What also gives strength to the practice of talkstory is its emphasis on orality, on speaking out, as opposed to more academic, literary conventions. Near the end of the novel, when Cowrie is deciding what to do about her doctoral thesis, Kuini, one of Cowrie’s closest friends, writes her a candid letter. She says: “Your [Cowrie’s] task is to find a way to nurture and let free this Pacific energy, to draw the past into the future through the power of storytelling—and by nature a PhD is a British colonial construct. […] If it doesn’t work there, then find a new medium” (284-85).
I found this intelligent, open attitude towards the limitations of academia empowering and refreshing. What is most crucial to Cowrie, more important than academic glory and laurels, is being able to share not only her own personal story, but also the stories of her people, the women that have shaped, and continue to shape, her life. In her talkstory performance, Dr. Dunsford makes it clear that she shares this belief with her character, focussing on the interconnectedness of all women.

Megan Canfield, University of Manitoba

Cathie Dunsford introduces the ritual of “talk story” in her novel, The Journey Home. She describes talk story as being the ritual of women coming together, from “different cultures, to hear each other’s stories, listen carefully, as on the marae [meeting place], without an interruption, so that the full impact and power of the storytelling comes across. So they feel it in their hearts as well as hear it in their heads” (144-45). Talk story’s powerful implications are in the realms of identity, healing and understanding. Talk story can be used in each of these realms differently to produce a different goal.
Talk story creates an atmosphere for women that encourages them to discover where their roots lie by looking into their past. This is done through the individual’s own perspective and that individual has the opportunity to share her life story with a group of extremely attentive listeners. By sharing her past through this method, the individual not only becomes more aware of her culture but she also reaffirms her culture. This is a practice that can and should be used more as we are individuals that seem to think that we have no culture. However, if we engaged in talk story, we would be able to see that we do have culture and tradition that are extremely important parts of our identity.

Another possible implication of talk story could be in the healing process. While reading The Journey Home, I realized that there could be a possible connection between the benefits in talk story and the new program which Kuini was implementing for sexual abuse victims and holding their abuser accountable. Talk story could be a useful tool to bring women together to create strength through the bonds that talk story creates. This would help the women to allow themselves to put their trust in others again by sharing and connecting with the talk story group.

Lastly, I believe one of the most important results in talk story is in understanding. Talk story could and should be used to break down boundaries between individuals. Talk story allows every member of the group to enter each other’s lives and explore their world, creating a better understanding and acceptance of cultural differences. This creates an atmosphere of acceptance where discrimination and racism are suffocated.

Talk story’s implementations could be endless and deserve to be explored. Like Dunsford stated in her novel, it’s a power beyond the writing on page. It’s a spiritual power full of positive energy.