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Telling Animals

Animacies in Dene Narratives
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In Telling Animals, Jasmine Spencer offers a comparative yet personal approach to Dene/Athabaskan stories, both Northern and Southern. It examines the animating effects of animal stories, the transformative power of animacies in Dene stories, and the effects of narrative revitalization through animal grammar. It takes as its first premise the teachings of many Elders, who have shared that the stories are alive. Jasmine Spencer's comparative approach combines literary, linguistic, anthropological, and philosophical theories and methods using a deictic framework for closely reading the stories in both their Dene languages and in English translation. The narrative epistemologies enacted by Dene stories counterbalance many of the ethical problems inherent within Euro-Western approaches to ontology and experience. These stories revive those who listen and read, offering hope.
Jasmine Spencer is assistant professor of English at Dixie State University.
Introduction: Histories Chapter One: "When you hear me sing": Tanager and Robin on How to Live as Birds of Homophony in Dene Bird Stories and Songs Chapter Two: "I will be popular with the Campfire People, so ha, ha, ha": Porcupine and Lynx on How to Love in K'tl'egh'i Sukdu/A Dena'ina Legacy Chapter Three: "What will you do now?": Wolverine and Wolf on How to Die in "The Man Who Sought a Song," told by Elisse Ahnassay Chapter Four: "If it floats, we will all live forever": Coyote and Badger on How to Live Again in Dine Bahane': The Navajo Creation Story Conclusion: Histologies
Telling Animals is a sophisticated, accessible, and engaging study of textualized Dene orature, showing how Indigenous animal stories demonstrate much-needed respect for the entire more-than-human world. Written from a linguistic and ethnographic perspective, this book has much to offer scholars of critical animal studies and ecocriticism, helping us to understand the language of and about animals. -- Scott Slovic, University of Idaho
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