Apache Storyteller Brings 21st-Century Native Culture Alive In Dynamic Library Presentation

World-renowned storyteller Dovie Thomason will visit Broadneck Library on November 26 from 10:30am—11:30am for “Stories of the Four Directions” to share stories from the diverse native cultures of North America.

Her melodic intonation with soothing, well-placed inflections in the detailed stories of her own life, and those of other indigenous people, is designed to draw in the audience, fill their minds with vivid imagery, and leave them with a richer understanding and a personal connection to American natives.

Verbal communication is considered the earliest form of human communication with the origins of speech dating to 100,000 BCE (before common era). The first recorded written communication didn’t appear until 2,000 BCE with the first indication of simple characters representing singular sounds. An in-utero human can recognize the sound of their mother’s voice before birth, and instinctively make sounds after birth to communicate the most basic human needs and emotions. Young children hear patterns of words, even inflections, from which they form their own voices and learn to speak long before they can write their name.

Verbal communication – storytelling – brings humans together. The spoken word predates science, and it’s stronger than any iPhone, artificial intelligence technology, robot or gadget humans can create. It will never be outdated or replaced. Storytelling ties us to our past and prepares us for our future.

To demonstrate the power of storytelling, Thomason has been known to ask the audience, “With a show of hands, how many people have attended a storytelling event?” Most have not. A few hands will go up. Then she will ask the audience if they learned of the event because someone told them about it. The number of hands in the air doubles or triples.

As a child, Thomason didn’t live on a reservation or attend school with other natives. She often felt invisible, or as she described, “an artifact of history.”

“As children, we learn about Pocahontas and Sitting Bull. We craft wigwams and study early maps of native tribes,” Thomason said. “But those early lessons are separate from what we can learn about natives and their significant contributions to the modern world.”

Through her favorite teacher, her best friend and the greatest storyteller she ever knew — her grandmother — Thomason’s passion is to share native traditions, achievements and stories, and make them contemporary.

“Often in schools, I am asked about our material culture, our tribes, our dwellings, and that’s fine, but I also want to share our place in literature, science, arts, medicine, politics and entertainment,” Thomason said of the impact of indigenous Americans well beyond the colonization of America.

“We are a curious species,” Thomason said. “The simple fact that I have been invited back to Anne Arundel County for 25 years shows the instinctual and long-lasting effect of storytelling. Someone heard my story, liked it enough to share it with someone, and so on.”

Much like throwing a pebble into a pond and knowing the ripple will extend beyond what the eye can see, Thomason believes storytelling will never be in danger of disappearing.

“When we use our words, we serve our greater community. Our stories keep us together,” Thomason said. “I enjoy and celebrate our coming together made possible with stories and shared words, especially in a library, a mighty fortress of shared words and stories. And besides, who doesn’t love a good story?”

To learn more about this event and others sponsored by the Anne Arundel County Public Library, visit www.aacpl.net. To learn more about Dovie Thomason, visit www.doviethomasonstoryteller.com.