Ojibwa Culture Sustainability & Cultural Sovereignty
Bizindaadidaa, gaganoonididaa, ganawenindidaa… (Let’s listen to each other, let’s speak/converse together, let’s take care of each other…)
The sustainability of Ojibwa Culture is, and always has been, a priority to the sovereignty of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC or “Community”) throughout the 1842 Treaty ceded-territory. Sustaining Ojibwa culture means to sustain our identity as Anishinaabe Ojibwa, dedicated to cultural practices that are, and always have been, changing and adapting with the seasons, generations, landscape and water ecologies, technologies, and also, by interacting with other cultures. In order to sustain Ojibwa culture, we must express gratitude and respect in our daily practices and relationships, and assert our sovereignty through the use and sharing of Ojibwa values between and across multiple generations, as we have done since time immemorial.
Today, KBIC is diligently working to reclaim, revitalize, and strengthen Anishinaabe Ojibwa culture and cultural practices. It is our goal to increasingly integrate and share cultural teachings and values in all of the work we do for our community and relatives, and in partnership with others. To learn more about Ojibwa Culture and Cultural Sovereignty, please explore the resources below:
The Ojibwe People's Dictionary
The Language of the Three Fires Confederacy
Nanabozho Original Instructions (Four Directions and Sacred Medicines, Kimmerer)
A Guide to Understanding Ojibwe Treaty Rights
The Creation Story of Kitche Manitou - (The Great Spirit) of the Ojibwe
Guidance for Requesting Cultural Teachings
Four Sacred Plants of the Anishinaabe
Ojibwe Waasa-Inaabidaa “We look in all directions” (6-part documentary series)
Native American Bear Mythology
Gathering Birch and Birch Bark
Harvesting and use of Birch Bark
The Great Flood from the Mishomis Book by Eddie Benton Banai
For many other publications ready for download or mail order, please visit the GLIFWC publications page.
The greatest lesson Nanabush imparted was how to learn. ~ WM Geniusz, 2009:67