Story-telling, Women's Authority and the 'Old Wife's Tale

The Story of the Bottle of Medicine

Bibliographic Data

ID4494904
AuthorsLeonard Abrams (0000-0002-9886-4872, University of Glasgow, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume73
Issue1
Pages95-117
Publication date2012-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory Workshop Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-3554 • E-ISSN: 1477-4569
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/hwj/dbr058
PMID22830093
OpenAlexW2158451135
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited9

The focus of this article is a single personal narrative – a Shetland woman's telling of a story about two girls on a journey to fetch a cure for a sick relative from a wise woman. The story is treated as a cultural document which offers the historian a conduit to a past that is respectful of indigenous woman-centred interpretations of how that past was experienced and understood. The "story of the bottle of medicine" is more than a skilful telling of a local tale; it is a memory practice that provides a path to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of a culture. Applying perspectives from anthropology, oral history and narrative analysis, three sets of questions are addressed: the issue of authenticity; the significance of the narrative structure and storytelling strategies employed; and the nature of the female performance. Ultimately the article asks what this story can tell us about women's interpretation of their own history.

Aesthetics · Art · Indigenous · Interpretation (philosophy) · Literature · Narrative · Personal narrative · Sociology · Storytelling · Wife · Canadian Identity and History · Gender Studies · History · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Oral History, Memory, Narrative Analysis · Philosophy

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