“But it’s our story. Read it.”: Stories My Grandfather Told Me and Writing for Continuance

This is a story about stories. Born out of a ten-year-old request from my grandfather, Ronald Whiteduck, to help him record our family’s and community’s history, this research essay explores the theoretical, ethical, and methodological considerations of writing oral history in Native communities. Punctuated by transcriptions of my grandfather’s stories and my self-reflection, this essay explores Native writing in terms of the responsibilities Native writers have when we write; how writing can keep our people grounded in our home(lands); the potential of writing to decolonize; and, most importantly, writing for the continuance of our nations. When we write, Native writers are responsible to our families, our communities, and the larger Native academic community. Our stories represent a fundamental love and respect for our homeland, and writing them ensures our children can return home regardless of their physical location. Through writing we can achieve decolonization by responding to past and ongoing oppression, while actively moving beyond it. Continuance manifests when we thrive in a space of our own, where our ways of being are combined with tools provided by academia to further our goals. The essay concludes by asking, “Where does it end?”