Interview · North Dakota · South Dakota · Jesse Taken Alive · OSEU 2 · NDNAEU 4 · NDNAEU 7
Themes: Land & stewardship, Language & revitalization, Kinship & family, Education & learning, Values & generosity, Culture & continuity, Listening & observation, Humor & play, Intergenerational learning
Learn About questions
1. Are there any well-known Lakota comedians?
2. Are there any well-known Native American comedians?
3. What are the details within the Lakota language that allow for this sense of humor that are lost in translation?
4. In what ways do the various Tiospaye work together despite differences?
5. How many differing political perspectives are present among the Lakota people?
6. What are some examples of how traditional Lakota people practiced allowing others to be free or embracing a variety of perspectives and life choices?
Learn From questions
1. What sort of humor is practiced in your family or among your friends? What are some examples?
2. Who are your favorite comedians? What makes them funny?
3. Have you ever been in a situation in which some meaning or significance was “lost in translation” between two languages?
4. What is your general response to differences among people? Do you tend to argue, to listen and learn, or to ignore?
5. What do you think are some good approaches to dealing with differences among people, whether they are political, religious, philosophical, experiential, etc.?
Transcripts
Lakota Sense of Humor - Jesse Taken Alive - OSEU 2
Watch this interview on YouTubeA couple of things that I would share…that is our humor. The humor amongst Lakota people is…words can’t describe it…literally. When you tell a joke in our language and you try to interpret it into English, the punch words are gone. It’s not as funny. The other thing I wanted to share is that as tiospaye, as bands, we do things different. But we are all going toward the same goal and purpose. And we respect each other for that.
America talks about the land of the free which is awesome and I certainly respect that. But as Lakota, we say, “Land of the free…and allowing others to be free.” That’s the part that sometimes is hard to understand. By our non-Indian friends…or dominant culture…they don’t see that because…while they talk about freedom…until recently, there was only two kinds of political parties, the red and the blue…the Democrats and the Republicans…and now they’ve got the Tea Party…if it’s freedom, how come it’s only two parties? All those types of things and are trying our best to understand…or as they say, “wrap our heads around.” But as Lakota, allowing each other to be free is really important…and not taking advantage of each other of course. But as we see those things coming back amongst us, it’s really, really exciting.
Resource text
From the current WoLakota source page:
Lakota Sense of Humor and Freedom
Jesse Taken Alive
Transcript
(deep listening, information)
(deep listening, transformation)
Teachings of Our Elders resource text:
NDNAEU Alignment:
Some indexed text was extracted from scanned material. Check the original source for exact wording and spelling.
Source materials
Supplied transcript document. Text preserved as supplied; spellings and transcription uncertainties have not been corrected.
Additional source transcripts
Lakota Sense of Humor and Freedom
Lakota Sense of Humor - Jesse Taken Alive - OSEU 2
A couple of things that I would share…that is our humor. The humor amongst Lakota
people is…words can’t describe it…literally. When you tell a joke in our language and
you try to interpret it into English, the punch words are gone. It’s not as funny. The other
thing I wanted to share is that as tiospaye, as bands, we do things different. But we are
all going toward the same goal and purpose. And we respect each other for that.
America talks about the land of the free which is awesome and I certainly respect that.
But as Lakota, we say, “Land of the free…and allowing others to be free.” That’s the part
that sometimes is hard to understand. By our non-Indian friends…or dominant
culture…they don’t see that because…while they talk about freedom…until recently,
there was only two kinds of political parties, the red and the blue…the Democrats and
the Republicans…and now they’ve got the Tea Party…if it’s freedom, how come it’s only
two parties? All those types of things and are trying our best to understand…or as they
say, “wrap our heads around.” But as Lakota, allowing each other to be free is really
important…and not taking advantage of each other of course. But as we see those
things coming back amongst us, it’s really, really exciting.