0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Reveal or Conceal?
be lost. Time is without direction (lineality) and cannot impose itself
on an individual being or the world. Time exists and unfolds in natu-
ral cycles as part of the essential perpetual flux of the universe. Time
just is (Little Bear, in Battiste 2002 , 78 ).
The process orientation and relational order of the Kainai universe
is reflected in the Blackfoot language, which is verb-oriented rather
than nominal. There are no distinctions between genders, nor is the
language precisely inflected as to animate and inanimate, though it
appears to be. Everything is more or less animated (Little Bear, in Bat-
tiste 2002 , 78 ). The importance of a given act of speech is the action,
“what is happening,” as opposed to the nominal, the being, the object
or place toward which an action is directed. In this universe “trees”
speak, “rocks” become grandparents, and “buffalo” or “coyote” take
an interest in human beings and offer guidance, protection, knowl-
edge, and power (Little Bear, in Battiste 2002 , 78 ). Accordingly, hu-
man beings may transform themselves into another being and display
the primary characteristics associated with such a being, whether an-
imal or spirit. A “bear dancer” does not merely mimic the actions of
a bear, he is a bear, dancing.
The Kainai worldview has important implications as regards the
inclusion of ecstasis within ethnography. First, since ideas are subjec-
tive, it is not possible to know what ideas exist within the mind of
another. Access to the knowledge of another is made possible only
through actions, or story. A story transfers knowledge when a lis-
tener who wishes to learn applies “active” listening skills and, hav-
ing heard the story, “acts” upon that knowledge. Second, each Kainai
experiences the world differently (as, indeed, all human beings do).
The Kainai therefore insist there are many local, contingent, experi-
ential, temporal, flexible, contextual, and gendered subjectivities, or
truths. Thus, when an individual shares a story, and, in so doing, po-
tentially engages in a knowledge transfer, the listener can assume the
storyteller has, to the best of his or her ability, faithfully recreated the
experiences upon which that knowledge depends (Little Bear, in Bat-
tiste 2002 , 80 ).
In short, the Kainai are an embodied people. The Earth is, literally,
their Mother, and all beings, human, animal, spirit, and other are
