It is unfortunate that our ancestors did not have written laws. They never wrote down their wisdom and knowledge, but their knowledge of their brain is here. It exists.
We want to see their knowledge and use it today, but a lot of it is not going to become available to us by word of mouth. It is like sewing kamiks – using the kamik as an example, it is not easy to come by. First you have to hunt for the skin, then you have to prepare it by skinning it and making it soft. Where do we get the thread from? How will we get it soft? We also have to make sure it its properly and that it is comfortable. All the necessary steps for how to come up with a perfect kamik can be recorded today. It can be provided in writing now...
Ptarmigan intestine is something we do not think of as useful. Yet it was used for survival... even though it is not used any more, we have to recognize it and put it in writing.3
Rhoda Karetak is an educator and artist who has been involved with many projects related to Inuit language and culture in her community, in Nunavut, and in Canada. She currently works with the Department of Education in Arviat.
On the Dream time – Yolngu stories of Aboriginal Australia... “But it was our ancestors moving across the land, singing and dreaming and talking, that made it possible to live in a world we find human.”Michael Christie from Northern Territory University in Australia
From Spoken Here by Mark Abley, published by Random House Canada, in 2003