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So Wise Were Our Elders: Mythic Narratives from the Kamsa
Contributor(s): McDowell, John Holmes (Author)

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ISBN: 0813160367     ISBN-13: 9780813160368
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
OUR PRICE: $28.50  

Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: July 2014
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Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Folklore & Mythology
- Social Science | Customs & Traditions
- Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social
Dewey: 398.208
Physical Information: 0.67" H x 6" W x 9" L (0.96 lbs) 296 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Latin America
- Ethnic Orientation - Native American
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

"So wise were our elders " Thus exclaims Mariano Chicunque, himself an elder, expressing in a single phrase the thrust of the mythic narrative tradition he simultaneously presents and represents in his storytelling.

A remarkable body of mythology is documented for the first time in this volume. John Homes McDowell's study revolves around thirty-two mythic narratives of the Kams Indians who live in the Sibundoy Valley of the Colombian Andes, collected by the author from several renowned Kams storytellers. Each myth is given in the native language with parallel English translations that seek to capture the flavor of the original performances. Textual annotation and commentary assess the grounding of the myths in the language and culture of the Kams indigenous community.

Introductory chapters describe the process of transcription and translation and highlight important characteristics of the collection. McDowell stresses the collaborative nature of the enterprise, which benefits from the shared vision of the ethnographer and of indigenous consultants who were involved in every step of the process. The narratives are portrayed as a residual mythology in transit toward folktale but still evocative of a traditional cosmos. The myths are much more than inert "literary" objects, and under McDowell's scrupulous analysis they emerge as a storehouse of narrative potential whose performances still have meaning in Kams society and culture today.

"So Wise Were Our Elders" is a companion volume to McDowell's Sayings of the Ancestors: The Spiritual Life of the Subundoy Indians (1989).

 
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