Chapter 10

Haudenosaunee storytelling as a philosophy of being in the world

This chapter examines the how Haudenosaunee storytelling and oral traditions constitute a philosophy of being in the world. Many Indigenous cultures, including the Haudenosaunee use oral traditions to pass on knowledge and this tradition has been continued in contemporary forms. This chapter begins by examining the important differentiation between stories about Indigenous people and stories told by Indigenous people. This is an important difference due to the insidious nature of ethnocentric stories about Indigenous peoples and the way that these stories distort understandings of Indigenous identity. Through an understanding of Indigenous oral tradition and storytelling it becomes clear that stories are a way of expressing and transmitting not only knowledge, but also a philosophy of what it means to be human in the world. Viola Cordova and Daniel Heath Justice pose questions about the world and our role as humans in the world which are philosophical in nature, but for Indigenous peoples are answered through storytelling. Therefore, a system of philosophy exists and is passed on through the traditional and contemporary stories of Indigenous cultures on Turtle Island. This chapter examines several aspects of the Haudenosaunee Creation Story and the philosophical ideas which emerge from this cosmology.