Description
Through five generations at Pejuhutazizi (the place where they dig the yellow medicine), Teresa Peterson’s family members have listened to and told stories: stories of events, migrations, and relationships in Dakota history, and stories that carry Dakota culture through tales, legends, and myths.
In the 1910s, Waŋbdiṡka (Fred Pearsall) made notes on stories he heard from Dakota elders, including his mother-in-law, at the Upper Sioux Community in Mni Sota Makoce–Minnesota. In the 1950s, when he wrote them down in a letter to his daughters, his young grandson Waṡicuŋhdinażiŋ (Walter “Super” LaBatte Jr.) was already listening and learning from his family’s elders and other members of the community. And then that grandson grew up to become a storyteller.
Teresa Peterson, the great-granddaughter of Fred and the niece of Super, has her own story of finding identity to tell. In this book, she has worked with her uncle to present their family’s precious collection. These stories bring people together, impart values and traditions, deliver heroes, reconcile, reveal place, and entertain. Finally, as they bring delight to listeners, they provide belonging and nurture humanity.
Review
Diane Wilson, author of Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past and The Seed Keeper: A Novel
About the Author
Teresa Peterson is an educator, tribal planner, and writer. She is Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota and a member of the Upper Sioux Community.
Walter LaBatte Jr. is an artist who tans hides, makes drums, beads moccasins, and prepares pasdayapi. He is Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota and a member of the Upper Sioux Community.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Francis tipped his cowboy hat back, looked at me, and said, “Your tree has no roots.” I replied with silence and a blank stare. I looked down at my wispy, blowing-in-the-wind tree, drawn on the stark white 11 x 13–inch paper.
“You’re searching for something,” he declared.
This time I responded with a bewildered, “What? What am I looking for?”
“That’s for you to figure out,” he replied.
And that was that. My tree-reading was over. With nothing more to say, I shook his hand and thanked him. No epiphanies, no aha Oprah moments. Thoughts briefly wafted through my mind on the drive home—I knew it was significant, but I was frustrated with my apparent lack of tree interpretation.
I did not understand what any of this meant, then, but it stuck with me over the years. It has taken me all this time to return to this place, now with more insight. I was, in essence, a tree with no roots. What I had understood and learned of my culture up to that point provided a foundation to my Dakota identity. And yet, in hindsight, I was missing so much more. I once heard that knowing who you are has every bit to do with knowing whose you are. How does one come to understand who you belong to? Dakota ia, Utuhu Can Cistinna emakiyapi ye—in Dakota, they call me Little Oak Tree. I am the granddaughter of many . . . many of whom brought me here to this place in time.
Details
- Publisher : Minnesota Historical Society Press (January 18, 2022)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 206 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1681341840
- ISBN-13 : 978-1681341842
- Item Weight : 11.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
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