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Historic Agreement to Publish Ojibwe Books
The Mille Lacs Band (MLB) of Ojibwe is getting serious about
Ojibwe language revitalization and wants to deepen the resources
available to advance the language. To this end, the MLB has signed
a contract with the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) Press to
publish three new monolingual Ojibwe books. MNHS Press has published
many previous books on Ojibwe history and culture, and this foray
into monolingual Ojibwe publications marks a new venture for the
press. This partnership establishes the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
as the first entity to develop monolingual material for release
and publication with MNHS. The three books are scheduled for publication
in October 2020.
Book Development Is Building Capacity at Mille Lacs
The MLB has multiple goals with the book development work. The
work is putting MLB elder speakers of Ojibwe to work and developing
the capacity of band members to do their own language development,
broaden the scope of financial resources available to the band and
its members, and contribute to the broad Ojibwe revitalization effort.
The book development work is supported in part through a grant to
the Aanjibimaadizing program for MLB workforce development.
Book Making Process
Mille Lacs has identified 25 first speakers of Ojibwe in their
communities. So far, 17 have agreed to contribute to this initiative.
At content development sessions in July and September of 2019, the
17 elder speakers were each paired with a transcriber who took the
stories down in dictation and recorded their stories. The stories
cover a range of content from personal reminiscences to creative
fiction. The team works hard, starting at 8:00am and continuing
past 8:00pm most development days. But the results of their efforts
are impressive. Each content session produced 50 stories and around
150 pages of Ojibwe text. The texts are run through a big group
spell-check process developed just for these sessions, and then
a team of editors that includes Anton Treuer and Michael Sullivan,
Sr., works to clean up and format the stories, circling back to
the speakers with numerous questions until there is agreement about
all details and quality.
Intellectual and Cultural Property Rights
The MLB will retain copyright to all the material in the new
books, and royalties will be paid to the band and funneled back
into the development of future books.
Future Work
Mille Lacs has already planned to do three more content sessions,
and as the relationship with the MNHS Press and the work of the
language team deepens, MLB expects to continue developing books
for years to come.
Projected Impact
MLB wants every kind of opportunity for its people. The leadership
and citizenry at Mille Lacs believe in education, literacy, financial
security and prosperity, and all dimensions of healthy living for
all their people. The opportunity for band members to learn their
language and culture and to have those things intertwined with literacy
makes perfect sense. An elementary student in public school has
5,000 books loaded into an accelerated reading program with assessments
by grade level. Mille Lacs is building the foundation so this can
be done in Ojibwe. Once the books are done, they stay in print,
and the impact and accessibility of the language will grow over
time.
The Importance of Language Revitalization
Every language embodies the unique worldview of a people. Having
the Ojibwe language alive in Mille Lacs keeps the people recognizable
to their ancestors and preserves the cultural patrimony and tools
of previous and current generations. Keeping Ojibwe a living language
reinforces the sovereign status of the MLB—it is a defining
and distinctive feature of what it means to be an Ojibwe nation.
Learning a second language enhances cognitive function and helps
kids do better in English than their English-only speaking counterparts.
As many people around the country struggle with substance abuse,
health, and poverty, Mille Lacs is using every available tool to
equip their people with an empowered knowledge of who they are as
native people, and the teachings and language that have carried
the people of Mille Lacs through many dark chapters of history.
There is a saying in Ojibwe: "If there is a bramble in your life,
pick up your ax." It's a metaphor: "If times get hard, pick up your
native ways." The language is the ax. It will help the people thrive.
Reaction
Melanie Benjamin, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Chief Executive,
said, "We are thrilled to see the success of our elders in developing
these books, honored to have developed the healthy, positive, and
productive relationship we have with the Minnesota Historical Society
Press, and full of hope for our youth and future generations who
will benefit from this work for years to come." Joe Nayquonabe,
Sr., who is a ceremonial drum chief at Mille Lacs, a member of the
elder advisory board, and one of the story authors, said, "We believe
in our language and we believe in our native ways. Nobody can make
these things live all alone, so I am proud of our tribe and our
community for coming together to do something truly great. This
is one of the best things we've done in a long time." Josh Leventhal,
Director of MNHS Press, added: "The work of language revitalization
and preserving the stories of Ojibwe elders is such a critical piece
of understanding the history of Minnesota and its people. MNHS Press
is honored to be partnering with the Mille Lacs Band to share these
stories and help preserve Ojibwe language and culture."
More About the Mille Lacs Dialect of Ojibwe
The dialect of Ojibwe spoken at Mille Lacs is the southernmost
dialect of the Ojibwe language and one of the most endangered dialects.
Mille Lacs has identified 25 fluent first speakers left in their
communities. All are at least 70 years old. Today there are 125
Ojibwe First Nations in Canada and Ojibwe communities in the United
States across Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota,
and one mixed Ojibwe-Cree community in Montana. The total Ojibwe
population is over 250,000 people, but less than 30,000 speak the
language. Fewer than 500 of those speakers reside in the United
States, and the number of children who speak the language is very
small. There are enough speakers to engage in meaningful revitalization
work, but there is no time to waste. Mille Lacs has already started
an Ojibwe immersion early childhood program and numerous other language
enrichment opportunities. But the development of new resource materials
is an effort to enable their living speakers today to teach future
generations for hundreds of years to come.
Mille Lacs is Mobilized to Revitalize Ojibwe
The elder advisory board guiding the development of Rosetta
Stone and Ojibwe books in Mille Lacs includes Joe Nayquonabe, Sr.,
Lee Staples, and Brenda Moose. This development was initiated by
the Mille Lacs Band with broad community support.
Detailed Book Descriptions
Detailed descriptions of each book are posted to the pre-order
pages for the books on Amazon for Akawe
Niwii-tibaajim, Nishiimeyinaanig,
and Anooj
Inaajimod. All three books will also be available for purchase
from the Minnesota Historical Society's shops and online store as
well as from booksellers.
For More Information
Questions about the Ojibwe language resource development can
be directed to Tammy Wickstrom, Executive Director of the Aanjibimaadizing
Program at Mille Lacs: Tammy.Wickstrom@millelacsband.com.
Questions about the release and marketing of the new books can
be directed to Alison Aten or Josh Leventhal at the Minnesota Historical
Society Press: alison.aten@mnhs.org
or josh.leventhal@mnhs.org.
Questions about the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe can be directed
to Kris Jensen or Vivian LaMoore: kris.jensen@millelacsband.com
or vivian.lamoore@millelacsband.com.
Mille
Lacs Indian Reservation
Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is the popular name for the land-base
for the Mille
Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Central Minnesota, about 100 miles (160
km) north of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The contemporary Mille Lacs Band
reservation has significant land holdings in Mille Lacs, Pine, Aitkin
and Crow Wing counties, as well as other land holdings in Kanabec,
Morrison, and Otter Tail Counties. Mille Lacs Indian Reservation
is also the name of a formal Indian reservation established in 1855.
It is one of the two formal reservations on which the contemporary
Mille Lacs Band retains land holdings. The contemporary Mille Lacs
band includes several aboriginal Ojibwe bands and villages, whose
members reside in communities throughout central Minnesota.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mille_Lacs_Indian_Reservation
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