Summary Of Writing As Witness By Beth Brant

Beth Brant’s journey through Writing as Witness is to reclaim power, particularly that which she perceives in relation to language and words. "I hope to convey the message that words are sacred," she says, establishing her perception of what the power of words entails through emphasis on tribalography as well as tribal culture and history. That power involves the ability of language to shape perception. Conscious exploration of the way individuals speak about race and sexuality can have a significant impact on demystifying many cultural misperceptions. Brant uses her writing to speak about her life and her experiences, and the relationship between sexuality and her Mohawk heritage. She asserts, "I am a lesbian, I am urban, I am Mohawk" (78).

She begins the chapter by making a distinction between those two cultures. For Brant, words communicate the Mohawk tradition of "truth-telling and story" across generations. "Words themselves come from the place of mystery that gives meaning and existence to life" (3). "And because our words were spoken, it is important that we choose words carefully, and that we listen with equal care" (49). She describes how important oral culture is to her as a Mohawk and how, by separating children from elders, this was destroyed by the colonizers who discriminated against anything outside their own frames of reference. Europeans do not give the same importance to truth than she feels she would, as she observes in non-Natives who describe truth as a “relative thing”

“To separate them would mean to place these two words in competition with each other, to rate them in acquiescence to white-European thought, to deny the power of sex/spirit in my life, my work" (55). She writes about the gathering of Two-Spirit people at The Basket and the Bow as opportunity for transformation and recovery from the disease of homophobia. She seeks to transform internalized hatreds into a journey of healing and reclaiming the power of sexuality. "Sexuality, and the magic ability of our bodies to produce orgasm was another way to please Creator and ensure all was well and in balance in our world"