Educational Media Reviews Online

The five titles in the Winnebago Women's Series are part of the larger Women's History & Literature Media Series produced by Jocelyn Riley and distributed by Her Own Words. Many in the field of Women's Studies are probably familiar with the mailings, if not the videos, from Her Own Words. Riley's productions, which relate to women's history and issues, all feature still photography coupled with the voices of women telling their own stories.

The five tapes reviewed here introduce the stories and songs of contemporary Winnebago women in their own words, told against the backdrop of photographs of themselves and their artifacts. The common thread running through the series is that a core of half a dozen women is highlighted. Although they don't all speak in all of the tapes, there is a continuity to the series that allows the viewer to get to know the women as individuals rather than as icons of a vanishing tradition.

Although their ages aren't specified, the stories are from mature women, some of whom are grandmothers and old enough to have been sent to Indian mission boarding schools as children. Reminiscences of growing up with close families ties and strong cultural traditions are central to four of the tapes: Big Sister, Little Sister; Her Mother Before Her ; Sisters & Friends; Winnebago Women Songs & Stories. Personal narratives and traditional music are prominent in the tapes. The tapes cover subjects such as the different perspectives between "big" sister and "baby" sister; the span of a life that encompasses the celebration of a newborn granddaughter and the memory of much beloved grandmother; and a group of old friends sharing a laugh over a fifty year old incident.

Because the Winnebago women are allowed to tell their own stories without the intervening structure of a narrator, the viewer gets a true sense of the power of oral history. Traditional songs performed by the women are also featured in the tapes and add texture to the programs.

The fifth tape, Mountain Wolf Woman, focuses on the life of the grandmother of one of the Winnebago women featured in the series. Granddaughter Naomi Russell is the narrator of this program which is based on her grandmother's autobiography. Mountain Wolf Woman's life wasn't exceptional in the Western historical sense of the word. Her story probably isn't too much different from the story of anyone's grandmother. But how many of those stories have survived?

The fact that this personal history did survive makes it powerful. To document and learn about the life of women like Mountain Wolf Woman, or her granddaughter Naomi and Naomi's friends Irene Thundercloud, Rebecca Greendeer, Ruth Cloud, offers the opportunity to go beyond mere cultural history. In Her Mother Before Her Naomi Russell talks about her mother and the women before her. When Naomi says they "give us strength, pride, teach us respect, teach us how to be women," her words ring true for all cultures and ethnicities--a valuable lesson for us all.

The tapes do a good job of teaching some very important lessons, but they are not without their problems. The foremost problem is that the tapes are more akin to slide/tape shows than videos as they are commonly regarded. Although the photography is technically fine, the visual impact of the program is limited. The material content of the tapes is accessible to younger audiences (middle and high school age students). However, they may not be willing to give up their expectations of live action and the students' attention may wander.

Another problem with the programs is that the visuals often raise more questions than they answer. One of the series' common conventions is to illustrate the women's personal narrations with pictures of Winnebago artifacts such as beadwork, costumes, and baskets. But without any background information, the average viewer cannot interpret the artifacts in any meaningful way.

Deciding to whom to recommend the series is a problem. Public and academic libraries that specialize in Winnebago and Native American Cultures will want the series. Because the tapes emphasize oral history and women's lives, they could be of use to academic libraries with collections in Women's Studies or folk traditions. High school and middle school libraries are advised to preview the tapes to be sure that they will hold the interest of their students.