Response 1: Fortin

Fortin

Jacey Fortin is an American journalist and has been writing for The New York Times since 2017.

Native Knowledge in a Colonized World

Amy Walker and Tyson Sampson are practicing traditions that nearly were eradicated almost two hundred years ago. While many of the Cherokee people were forced out of their lands in Western North Carolina and onto lands in Oklahoma, a small band of the Cherokee people hid from the Trail of Tears and managed to remain in the area. Today, the descendants of these Cherokee people still live in North Carolina, particularly within the Qualla Boundary and a town called “Cherokee.” Walker and Sampson are residents of Cherokee and decided to share some of their native knowledge with the world, even though the world has a history of treating their people unkindly.

Walker and Tyson have a wide encompassing knowledge of native agriculture, such as gathering mushrooms from the forest, harvesting native crops such as maize and squash, and growing herbs. However, their knowledge of native agriculture represents something deeper than simply cooking. It’s a deep connection to their heritage and ancestors that have faced a tragic history of colonization. The fact that this eastern band of Cherokee peoples still live in their ancestral homeland is a rare privilege that many Native American tribes are not afforded.

The use of photographs in the article is a critical part of telling Walker and Sampson’s stories. A photographer captured moments such as Walker collecting wild mushrooms, and Sampson preparing a traditional meal. Without the photojournalism, the article could not have as effectively shown the personal and culturally significant moments that Walker and Sampson chose to share.

Usage of Color and Lighting in Photojournalism

The photos in the article followed a specific color scheme: most of the photos were primarily green, brown, orange, and other earth tones. Additionally, they tended to be darker photos with more depth.

The usage of color and light proves to be a powerful rhetorical tool in the article. The dark lighting invokes certain feelings and thoughts that are not explicitly written about, such as sadness. The use of darker photos could be an allusion to the tragedies and hardships that this community has faced for hundreds of years. One could also associate these colors and dim lighting with fall, which is an extremely important season to the tribe because of their fall harvests. The photography especially played into our predisposed attitudes about color: colors are a form of symbolism. Brown invokes feelings of simplicity and comfort, green invokes feelings of fertility and nature, and orange invokes feelings of warmth and energy (Symbolism of Color). Whether these colors were very deliberate rhetorical and stylistic decisions or just a byproduct of taking photos in fall, they are indispensable to the article. The Eastern Band Cherokee culture is deeply connected to their land and the planet itself, and this recurring theme was better expressed through the usage of color and lighting.

Questions/Reflections

Everybody has heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but I feel like it has never pertained more so than in this article. We as humans have attached subjective meanings and feelings to colors, and this article utilized them exceptionally well. This use of color had me wondering about the origins of color and light symbolism. Where did humanity’s associated feelings with colors originate? Have I managed to miss forms of symbolism (and therefore rhetoric) in media by not paying closer attention to color and brightness? Or were these forms of symbolism innately understood and I simply didn’t give it a second thought?

Works Cited

Fortin, Jacey. “Seeds of Native Knowledge Grow in North Carolina.” The New York Times, 21 Oct 2023, p. A16.

“Symbolism of Color: Using Color for Meaning.” Incredible Art Department, www.incredibleart.org/lessons/middle/color2.htm. Accessed 10 Nov. 2023.