Mino-bimaadiziwin

As my final semester concludes, for the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program, I've reflected quite a bit on what I've been working on, what I've accomplished, and what I've [un]learned. Now I get to start lining up what I'm looking forward to learning in the future. In spite of recent events at Michigan State University (MSU), after some ignorant folks repeatedly vandalized artwork (The State News, 2024) created by the North American Indigenous Student Organization (NAISO) and others that were meant to celebrate Indigenous Peoples' day, I'm feeling an even stronger sense of resolve to learn more about my culture, language, and heritage as a Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC), or Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), member.

For some context while reading ahead, some terminology notes:

• Anishinaabe, in my understanding, is the word for Ojibwe in Ojibwe, and it can act as an adjective. 

• Anishinaabemowin is the word for the Anishinaabe language.

• Anishinaabeg refers to the Anishinaabe peoples; in other words the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Boodewaadomii (Potawatomi) peoples.

• Anishinaabemowin is one of twenty-nine which reside under the Algonquin language family umbrella (M. Wellman-Teeple, personal communication, October 21, 2024). Knowing how many indigenous ancestors were displaced, I prefer to use the term Anishinaabe (versus Ojibwe) because it's very commonly used in my home community and I feel that it is more inclusive.

My first goal is to live life in a good way and to learn in a good way. Bay Mills Community College (BMCC) invited James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw to be a guest speaker for our students and community a while back and he delivered a captivating presentation on the Seven Grandfather Teachings (also sometimes referred to as the Seven Sacred Teachings). James has a series, "Ojibwe Word of the Day" and I found his episode on mino-bimaadiziwin, the first two minutes of the episode cover a detailed and thoughtful explanation of the composition and meaning of the word; you can find the episode on SoundCloud (Vukelich, 2023). 

One thing I want to highlight here: much of the sentence structure in Anishinaabemowin has a gender-neutral quality to it, meaning the rough translations have historically said, "he or she" is doing something. It may be difficult for some English speakers to conceptualize "they" as singular so this choice is evident in a lot of contemporary texts and translations. One interesting manifestation of this difference in language that I've noticed is that some first-speakers of many different indigenous languages (not just Anishinaabemowin) will use he or she interchangeably and indiscriminately. They don't mean any harm by this, it's just that in their language the words are the same, and I think if we allow ourselves some grace and flexibility when it comes to gendered language it makes it easier to understand this mindset where all people, regardless of gender, are spoken about with equality.

The Anishinaabeg have rich and vibrant stories that have been passed down via storytelling rather than written accounts. I would be very interested to investigate more into the traditions as I've heard that Anishinaabemowin wasn't really a written language. The evidence (or lack thereof) certainly would indicate that there weren't the type of libraries that we find elsewhere on Earth. No signs of the same level of documentation and dedicated scholars that preserve and protect their histories, making sure each new generation has access to their knowledge. However, earlier this year, a set of four Ojibwe birch bark scrolls were set for auction from a private collector; the scrolls were over a century old and would need to be collected in-person. Jerry Jondreau of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community rallied on social media to save the scrolls from going into another private collection, and BMIC contributed funds to ensure that the scrolls were returned home (Pember, 2024). Whether museums or libraries truly weren't built, or if their artifacts have been hidden in private collections, or if they've been successfully erased through colonization, these possibilities won't change the fact that those stories and histories may currently only exist in the minds of our elderly. Every moment we have with them is precious time we need to be soaking in every lesson we can from them.

One step I've taken toward expanding my personal learning network is joining the MSU Indigenous Graduate Student Collective. After joining, I saw that several members add a land acknowledgement to their email signatures and have since added it to mine as well, it reads: 

*Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg–Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples. The University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. 

Find whose lands you are on here.

Goal #2 Teaching Others Mino-Bimaadizi

Generational Resilience

My second goal is to teach others to live in a good way, or facilitate those teachings to be shared. I mentioned in a previous blog my own personal [family] connections to American Indian Boarding Schools, and as evidence continues to pile up of the abuse and neglect inflicted upon the children who resided in these institutions, my gratefulness is bittersweet. I'm grateful that my maternal great-grandparents survived, as well as my father and others. I'm sad for the children who spent their last days away from family, and those who were successfully assimilated. Additionally, I'm thankful for those who survived and rejected the grooming of these institutions, who went on to share their language and culture. My mission going forward is to honor their experiences and resilience by building out my own knowledge sets, documenting what I can, and sharing with others.

I have worked with my parents to organize events we've been calling Sharing Traditional Knowledge, and I plan to continue organizing more of these events in the future. There are many in my community who are knowledgeable of cultural norms and practices, who I want to support in their efforts to teach what they know to the younger generations. If I can provide technology support and assistance by operating live streaming of the events we plan then that's what I want to do. I think the will is here for many of us, and getting things organized and scheduled are our biggest hurdles but they are not insurmountable.

I attended an Advancing Indigenous People in STEM (AISES) conference in October of 2023 and took notes on how they structured the event. Having a cross-section of STEM sponsors, tribal organizations, students from all backgrounds and more in attendance was great to see. Finding where other events like this may be taking place and developing my network will help me to be a more effective facilitator and teacher.

Goal #3 Learn Anishinaabemowin

Once I've completed my Master's degree and feel free to focus more on what I really want to learn, my plan is to enroll in the Anishinaabemowin Pane Immersion Language program at BMCC. My spouse does not have the same hereditary ties to Anishinaabemowin as I do but we hope to raise kids and we want to be able to teach them Anishinaabemowin. Beyond that though I feel that it is important to me to learn my ancestral language and I'm thrilled that I have a partner who also values that, so much so that he also plans to enroll in classes with me. There's a real possibility that we will be part of raising the next generation of first speakers who get to see the language develop out of its endangered status, and that is deeply motivating and inspiring to me.

Resources

AISES | advancing indigenous people in stem. (n.d.). AISES. Retrieved October 28, 2024, from https://aises.org/ 

Indigenous Peoples’ Day artwork covered by student group, promptly replaced. (2024, October 15). The State News. Retrieved October 21, 2024, from https://statenews.com/article/2024/10/indigenous-peoples-day-artwork-covered-by-student-group-promptly-replaced

Pember, M. A. (2024, February 19). Emotional ceremony welcomes birch bark scrolls back to Ojibwe people • Wisconsin Examiner. Wisconsin Examiner. https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2024/02/19/emotional-ceremony-welcomes-birch-bark-scrolls-back-to-ojibwe-people/

Vukelich, J. (2023, January 9) Ojibwe word of the day mino-bimaadiziwin ᒥᓄ ᐃᒫᑎᓯᐎᓐ ‘the good life.’ [Audio recording]. Retrieved October 21, 2024, from https://soundcloud.com/jameskaagegaabaw/ojibwe-word-of-the-day-mino-bimaadiziwin-the-good-life