(sweetmoon photography)

By Nigel Maxwell

Storytelling

Eekwol lends voice to first of its kind Indigenous storytelling program

Dec 18, 2020 | 2:01 PM

The Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence position, a first of its kind at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), will be launched next month and an award winning hip-hop artist from Muskoday First Nation has been asked to be a part of it.

Lindsay Knight, also known as Eekwol, will be involved in creating and participating in opportunities designed to promote intercultural understanding and story-sharing between and among Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Knight, who is currently a lecturer in the USask Indigenous Studies department, told paNOW she feels her music background can help her appeal to a larger demographic.

“And I do know how students relate to pop culture and just what’s going on today. You ask the class who likes hip hop and pretty much every single hand comes up,” she said.

Due to protocols related to COVID-19. Knight won’t be able to speak to students one-on-one, which she regrets, but will instead appear virtually, and will talk to students about music as well as concepts and ideas related to storytelling. Knight explained how in 2020 there’s now multiple ways and mediums of storytelling, and it’s not just an Indigenous thing.

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“We tell stores universally so there’s so many mediums to do that,” she said “We want to create space for students to be able to understand storytelling is more of an expansion of just sitting around the fire.”

Knight was a recipient of the University of Saskatchewan Aboriginal Graduate Scholarship, and later earned a master’s degree in Indigenous studies. Having grown up with the advantage of a musically inclined family, Knight said storytelling played a big role in her own childhood, and how she learned about her culture.

“Storytelling and characters, and beings, have always been a part of my understanding how I move through this world,” she said.

By Grade 1, Knight was writing her own stories, and by age 13, heard hip-hop for the first time. She said her mind was “blown”, discovering the new form of storytelling. Knight begins her six-week residency as the University Library’s Storyteller-in-Residence on Jan. 4, 2021. The residency will culminate in the presentation of a project during the university’s Indigenous Achievement Week in February.

“I am hoping that being the first one that I can set some sort of foundation for a long relationship with Indigenous storytellers and residence coming in to the university library,” she said.

Lindasy Eekwol Knight. (submitted photo/sweetmoon photography)

In a statement provided to paNOW, Charlene Sorensen, acting dean, University Library, explained the University Library firmly supports USask’s Indigenization efforts.

“The Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence pilot program is an important program that will help uplift Indigenous voices and perspectives and facilitate deeper cultural understanding at our university,” she said.

Funding for the Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence pilot program was made possible by donors to the University Library.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell