Intro: Oral history has been a practice in academic spaces for a short time, but has existed in indigenous cultures and oral traditions for many, many years. Dr. Alexis Gumbs @alexispauline explores in she work topics such as: elders, listening, embodiment and even learning from marine mammals. Noor Alzamami takes a deeper look at the connections between animism and oral history in this post after reflecting on Dr. Alexis Gumbs presentation.
In the past several years, DNA testing to determine one’s ancestral racial make-up has exploded in popularity. I’m no exception, I admit I was taken in by the idea of discovering some new understanding of who I am and where I come from. Granted I’m an easy target -- I’ve taken “What Kind of Pizza Are You?” BuzzFeed Quizzes -- but still I was hopeful. I paid more than I wanted to, swabbed my cheeks for 30 seconds each, and sent my saliva off into the world to learn more about my family and myself.
With seemingly endless personality quizzes at our fingertips, why did 26 million of us actually send off our private information to a company we know little about? I believe we have a deep need for roots as part of the Earth. Often we look toward our family to learn more about ourselves; however many of us may not have that option. But our family isn’t the only soil in which we grow. Roots take time to burrow and thrive, they need nutrients and patience; and sometimes nutrients come from unexpected places.
Oral history has started to acknowledge, albeit half-heartedly, oral traditions and indigenous communities as the roots of the field, but it is both our responsibility and in our best interests to learn more about these roots: how they grow, where they’ve been before reaching us. We loosely recognize that many communities have passed on their own roots through folklore, stories, and spiritual practices, but deeply intertwining many of these practices from around the world is something oral historians have much more to learn from: animism. Animism is the attribution of a soul or energy to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.
By examining this framework more intimately we as oral historians could learn more deeply and intentionally about how to listen, how to share authority, and other key tenets of the practice. Animism encourages us to brave humility, to listen deeply, to receive lessons from beyond our assumptions, and to honor the time it takes to build roots.
The “rebirth” of animism in oral history can be seen in many works including Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs (@alexispauline) Breathing Guide for Marine Mammals in Training, a series of meditations based on the increasingly relevant lessons of marine mammals in a world with a rising ocean level. Dr. Gumbs’ practices - in this collection and other projects - look toward non-traditional ancestors, elders and listening in beautifully creative ways. It is an eye-opening shift in approach.
Dr. Gumbs invites us to remember that many of our ancestors didn’t just tell stories through human beings, but through all the ancestors of the Earth such as the plants, river, air, animals and more. Chief Si’ahl, Namesake of the City of Seattle, asks the US government after they offered to buy indigenous land in 1854, “Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.”
3 Lessons from Animism for Oral History:
I. Humility: In the video clip below from podcast Rune Soup, host Gordon White and guest Lee Morgan discuss humility as a necessary part of embracing animism, “Humility to decenter the idea that advanced consciousness must come in a form that resembles us… Something which we have traditionally been taught to think of as a lesser life form may have an incredibly advanced network… that predates ours.” As oral historians how are you bringing humility to your interviews?
II. Listening: Dr. Gumbs expresses in the Instagram post below, “The Shinnecock, my folks, are in sacred relationship with the Atlantic Right Whale. A listening that spans centuries…” Animism teaches us to be patient in our listening, and more so to challenge who we listen to. What voices have you not even considered? What voices are speaking that you aren’t hearing?
https://imgur.com/Ijr12aF
A screenshot of an instagram post by @alexispauline. There is a photo of an Atlantic Right Whale breaching. The water is a rich blue that feels as if it extends for miles down. Next to the photo @alexispauline writes, “The Shinnecock, my folks, are in sacred relationship with the Atlantic Right Whale. A listening that spans centuries. Once the beaching of a Right Whale was an offering to the whole community. Nourishment and light, shelter and warmth. But that day on the beach Kathy Engel told me she had never seen a whale in all her 60 years of growing up at that beach until this summer. Did I call them with my writing? She asked me online.”
III. Communicating Across Difference: As animism forces us as humans to re-evaluate humility and to listen beyond expectation, it also pushes us to communicate across differences. To listen to your ancestors, to nature, you have to reconsider your approach. Animism teaches us that communication takes many forms, and it’s our privilege to be able to adapt and hold space for our spiritual brethren.
Animism has so much more to offer than just three lessons, however these are a start and a way I am beginning to think about the roots of oral history in animism, indigenous cultures, and oral traditions.
When I received my DNA results back I was told in immense detail that my mother’s very European side had many places to set roots, however the report only included one line about my paternal side. “50% Middle Eastern.” Where were the details they had provided me for my maternal side? I felt upset and bamboozled. I had wanted to tend my roots from all ancestors, but in my frustration I realized I was asking the wrong question. I have to ask myself, who are “all ancestors”.
Perhaps by learning lessons through the Earth I can find more and different ancestors, just as Dr. Gumbs did with their marine mammals. My DNA heritage is just a piece of my ancestral roots, and a very narrow one at that. If I can challenge my ego, accept humility and move toward other paths, perhaps my roots will thrive in new, unexpected ways.
Noor Alzamami (they/them) is a current OHMA student at Columbia University. They describe themself as an arab-american, mentally ill, queer, gender neutral femme with a passion for self-determination and liberation. Prior to joining the OHMA program they worked as a facilitator, advocate, sex educator and queer youth programs coordinator.
This post represents the opinion of the author, and not of OHMA.