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Abstract

Oral traditions like those of Native Americans illustrate that storytellers are well suited for creating postmodern environmental ethics through what Jim Cheney (1995) calls “bioregional narrative”—contextualist discourse that serves an epistemological function akin to “mythic thinking.” Inspired by Cheney’s assessment, I set about applying “mythic thinking” to place—in this case, Silver Strand, a tiny southern California beach once inhabited by the Chumash, whose stories about their interactions with both land and sea demonstrate an inherent ethos that communicates moral behavior and values. In so doing, they provide a model for developing a personal sense of place from which nonindigenous inhabitants might learn.

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Strands: Weaving a Mythopoietics of Place

Abstract

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References