Wearing My Heart on My Sleeve: Transgressing the Traditional Boundaries of Sport History

Abstract

I was raised with stories. As a young girl, I was tucked into bed many nights by my Father, who shared countless stories with my older sister and me, most involving our four-legged relatives. His stories were often about nolka (deer), awasos (bear), tmakwa (beaver), w8kwses (fox), but usually about m8lsem (wolf). At the time, I thought these stories were fables shaped by my Father’s imagination, contrived tales to assist his (sometimes harrowing!) efforts after a long day’s work to get us to sleep. I assumed that because my Father was visually impaired and unable to read traditional children’s books, he had no choice but to make up such tales. It was not until I grew older that I realized his stories held important lessons— nolka and awasos were some of the greatest sources of winter protection for my Abenaki ancestors, and m8lsem were (and are) among the most revered of our nonhuman relations. As I grew older, I came to understand that his stories were not simply constructions of his imagination. On the contrary, my Father’s stories contained important teachings and life lessons. In reflecting on the importance of stories in her thought-provoking work titled, “Honouring the Oral Traditions of My Ancestors through Storytelling,” Lyackson scholar Qwul’sih’yah’maht (Robina Anne Thomas) shares,