Circle of Stories

Native American stories are as varied as the tribes and landscapes they come from—yet whether told by the Inuit of Alaska or the Seminole of Florida there are many common themes. Narragansett storyteller Tchin’s lesson explains how certain plants and animals came to be while Navajo storyteller Hoskie Benally’s “The Five Sacred Medicines” explains ceremony and ritual. Prayers, songs, and dances are all types of stories, which can be offered to honor the earth, or as Western Shoshone elder Corbin Harney describes it, “the Nature Way.” Some stories provide practical instructions on traditional living, such as Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Rosella Archdale’s lesson about preparing foods with reverence. Each Native story is a part of a greater whole, a continuum of stories that has neither a beginning nor an end. This project was made possible through a special new media venture presented by the Independent Television Service. Unlike earlier public television–sponsored projects, this is not a “companion site”; rather the site is the broadcast. Exploring new distribution models and formats for independent filmmaking, the Electric Shadows initiative blends filmmaking and interactive media in projects that are experienced exclusively online.