Interview · North Dakota · Debbe Poitra · NDNAEU 4
Themes: Kinship & family, Storytelling & oral tradition, Education & learning, Boarding schools & assimilation, Healing & resilience, Values & generosity, Economy & livelihoods, Humor & play, Intergenerational learning
Learn About questions
How does humor help to bring people through tough times?
What are ways that humor and grieving are connected? How do they help or hinder each other?
How does humor lead to resiliency?
What does it mean to “get lightened in the heart?”
Learn From questions
Have I ever found humor to be helpful in a difficult situation?
Have I ever experienced deep grief? Did humor play a role in helping me to move through the grief? In what way?
Is there a time in my life in which I developed the virtue of resiliency? What helped me to become resilient?
How has humor helped me to “get lightened in my heart?” What does it feel like when I experience that lightening of my heart?
Transcripts
Debbe_poitra_NDNAEU_4.mp4
Watch this interview on YouTubeI think that’s one of the most important characteristics that our people have when you take a look at all of the trauma that you know has happened in the past and continues to happen today because of the poverty and the drugs and all of the other social issues that come into play when you live on the reservation the sense of humor has been what has brought people through those rough times and no matter how tough life is at that particular moment there’s always someone who will say a jogar have something funny to comment on or tell a story about one of the family members you know that they especially if it’s someone who passed away and everybody’s grieving and you’re having such a hard time because your heart is so heavy and they’ll tell us funny story about this person you know and then it lifts the mood and it helps you to be able to deal with the situation and so I think that a sense of humor is valuable very valuable and it has helped our people to overcome for hundreds of years with the situation that they’re living in I mean I remember back when my dad would tell us that he had to get a work permit from the Bureau superintendent and this was in the 60s to be able to leave the reservation to go and find work and when you’re put under that type of control by someone else where you can’t even decide for yourself about your livelihood you know that can be very traumatic and yet you know they’ve overcome things like that they’ve overcome those hardships and it’s through that resiliency and sense of humor leads to that resiliency to be able to overcome the issues you know that they’ve had my mom was in boarding school and so you know they’re those are things that they have been able to overcome and the stories about a boo jus those were stories that my paternal grandmother told all the time and they are funny you know and they like I said they make people think about something other than themselves and it helps them then to be able to get lightened a little bit in the heart in the mind and to be able to put one foot in front of the other and move on
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