Description
A Time Before Deception - Truth in Communications, Culture, and Ethics by Thomas Cooper, a Harvard-educated communication professor at Emerson College in Boston, explores Indigenous forms of communication prior to European arrival up to the modern era. Cooper compares the concept of communication from the Indigenous and Western perspectives. He acknowledges the stereotypical view of truth and lying as portrayed in Hollywood westerns. This is his starting point as he describes the Native American ethos of communication that places respect as its underlying value. By comparison, Cooper states that Western society values truth and honesty above respect. Cooper covers several topics including Indigenous communication and ethics, literate and oral forms of communication, and spirituality and communication. Two case studies examine the ideas of communication and ethics in detail. Cooper spent time with the Shuswap Nation of British Columbia and the Navajo (Dine) of Arizona. The final chapter, Cooper synthesizes the issues raised throughout the text and uses the words of Chief Leon Shenandoah that state "our religion is all about thanking the Creator" to stress the deep level of Indigenous communication with Nature. Onondaga scholar Oren Lyons provides the epilogue. This book is highly readable and will appeal to Communications scholars as well as anyone interested in Native Studies, Philosophy, Media Studies, and Religion.