University of Idaho (UI) professor of ethnography and Distinguished Humanities professor Rodney Frey will discuss his new book published by Washington State University (WSU) Press, Carry Forth the Stories: An Ethnographer’s Journey into Native Oral Tradition, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 21st at the UI Library, 850 South Rayburn Street in Moscow, Idaho. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
The seasoned anthropologist/ethnographer will offer insights into the power and value of storytelling, and the importance of empathy gleaned from more than forty years of working successfully with indigenous peoples. His experiences with collaborative research projects offer a model for others seeking to work with tribal communities.
During the mid-1970s, Frey worked with elders who told him four quintessential stories that laid the foundations for his interwoven professional and personal lives. Frey’s story culminates with a cancer diagnosis and his quest to blend therapy and knowledge from both Western and Native healing traditions.
“Coming from my white, middle-class upbringing, I had no idea that there could be another way of knowing and experiencing reality—what the Coeur d’Alene’s call hnkhwelkhwlnet, ‘our ways of life in the world,’ that has provided Indian peoples with hope and beauty and meaning in the face of a history of such tremendous adversity,” Frey said. “Native peoples are not an abbreviated chapter in America’s history, but a vibrant, living expression of how a people can make their own history.”
Frey came to UI in the fall of 1998 after receiving his doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Colorado. During his UI tenure, he has received numerous awards, including the Dr. Martin Luther King Distinguished Service Award, Research and Teaching Excellence Awards and Distinguished Humanities Professor Award.
Readers can purchase WSU Press titles through bookstores nationwide, or direct from WSU Press at 800-354-7360 or online at wsupress.wsu.edu. A nonprofit academic publisher associated with Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, WSU Press concentrates on telling unique, focused stories of the Northwest.
For more information about the event, please contact UI Library Associate Dean Ben Hunter at bhunter@uidaho.edu or call the library at 208-885-6534.
