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Oral tradition article could use greater breadth of cultures that practice oral tradition and more emphasis on practical dimensions of oral tradition, i.e. was it effective and what methodologies of transmission and memorization were used (from Talk:Oral tradition#Continuing Debates)

Native America

No writing systems are known to exist among Native North Americans before contact with Europeans. Oral storytelling flourished in a context without the use of writing to record and preserve history, scientific knowledge, and social practices. While some stories were told for amusement and leisure, most functioned as practical lessons from tribal experience applied to immediate moral, social, psychological, and environmental issues (Kroeber 3). Stories fuse fictional, supernatural, or otherwise exaggerated characters and circumstances with real emotions and morals as a means of teaching. Plots often reflected real life situations and were aimed at particular people known to the story's audience. In this way, social pressure could be exerted without directly causing embarrassment or social exclusion (Kroeber 2). For example, a parent might tell a misbehaving child a fictional story that distinguishes acceptable and unacceptable behavior, rather than yelling or expressing disappointment (Doucleff and Greenhalgh). One single story could have dozens of lessons, depending on the context (Caduto and Bruchac). Stories were also considered a means to assess whether traditional cultural ideas and practices are effective in tackling contemporary circumstances or if they should be revised (Kroeber 3-6).

Native American storytelling is a collaborative experience between storyteller and listeners. Rather than having professional tribal storytellers, stories are told by anyone, with each storyteller using their own vocal inflections, word choice, content, or form (Kroeber 2). Storytellers not only draw upon their own memories, but also upon a collective or tribal memory extending beyond personal experience but nevertheless representing a shared reality (Ballenger). Native languages have in some cases up to twenty words to describe physical features like rain or snow and describe the spectra of human emotion in very precise ways, allowing storytellers to offer their own personalized take on a story based on their own lived experiences (Deloria 51, Lawrence and Paige ). Fluidity in story deliverance allowed stories to be applied to different social circumstances according to the storyteller's objective at the time (Kroeber 2). One's rendition of a story was often considered a response to another's rendition, with plot alterations suggesting alternative ways of applying traditional ideas to present conditions (Kroeber 2). Listeners might have heard the story told many times, or even told the same story themselves (Kroeber 2). Hence, curiosity about what happens next in the story was less of a priority than hearing fresh perspectives on well-known themes and plots (Kroeber 2). Similarly, storytellers generally were not concerned with discrepancies between their version of historical events and neighboring tribes' version of similar events, such as in origin stories (Deloria 51).

Stories are used to preserve and transmit both tribal history and environmental history, which are often closely linked (Deloria 51). Various Native oral traditions in the Pacific Northwest, for example, describe natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. Various cultures from Vancouver Island and Washington have stories describing a physical struggle between aThunderbird and a Whale (Earthquakes). One such story tells of the Thunderbird, which can create thunder by moving just a feather and carries a lake on its back, piercing the Whale's flesh with its talons, after which the Whale dived to the bottom of the ocean and brought the Thunderbird with it. Another depicts the Thunderbird lifting the Whale from the Earth then dropping it back down. Regional similarities in themes and characters suggests to some that these stories mutually describe the lived experience of earthquakes and floods within tribal memory. According to one story from the Suquamish Tribe, Agate Passage was created when an earthquake expanded the channel as a result of an underwater battle between a serpent and bird. Other stories in the region depict the formation of glacial valleys and moraines and the occurrence of landslides, with stories being used in at least one case to identify and date earthquakes that occurred in CE 900 and 1700. Further examples include Arikara origin stories of emergence form an 'underworld' of persistent darkness, which may represent the remembrance of life in the Arctic Circle during the last ice age, and stories involving a 'deep crevice,' which may refer to the Grand Canyon (Echo-Hawk). Despite such examples of agreement between geological and archeological records on one hand and Native oral records on the other, some scholars have cautioned against the application of oral narratives to natural history because of their susceptibility to detail alteration over time and lack of precise dates (Mason). The 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act considers oral traditions like stories as a viable source of evidence establishing the affiliation between cultural objects and Native Nations (Echo-Hawk).

References

1. Dauenhauer, Nora, and Richard Dauenhauer. "Haa shuká, our ancestors: Tlingit oral narratives" (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1987).
2. Evers, Larry, and Barre Token, eds. "Native American Oral Traditions: Collaboration & Interpretation" (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2001).
3. Kolodny, Annette. "'This Long Looked for Event': Retrieving Early Contact History from Penobscot Oral Traditions," Native American and Indigenous Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1. (2015), pp. 90-123.
4. Lawrence, Randee Lipson, and Dennis Swiftdeer. "What Our Ancestors Knew: Teaching and Learning Through Storytelling," New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Vol. 149. (2016), pp. 63-72.
5. Ludwin, Ruth S., and Gregory J. Smits. "Folklore and earthquakes: Native American oral traditions from Cascade compared with written traditions from Japan," Geological Society, London, special publications, Vol. 273, No. 1. (2007), pp. 67-94.
6. Saiyed, Zahraa, and Paul D. Irwin. "Native American storytelling toward symbiosis and sustainable design," Energy Research & Social Science, Vol. 31. (2017), pp. 249-252.