We have partnered with a team of scholars to bring you a new series of interpretations of this Ciinkwia Minohsaya ‘Painted Thunderbird Robe.’ In this short discussion, our team explores a series of key questions as they seek to contextualize this beautiful work of art in time and place, as well as within the culture…
Author: camshriver
Cam is a historian of early America specializing on Miami Tribe and Great Lakes ethnohistories.
Thoughts on COVID Neehseehpineenki ‘COVID-19’ and Past Epidemics
Epidemic contagion is a cornerstone of how we think about the period of Native American encounters with European and African newcomers, roughly 1500-1850. As we live through a global pandemic, we are once again faced with life-changing, or life-taking, circumstances. The request for the new word neehseehpineenki ‘COVID-19’ begs the question: How important was disease…
The Lost Treaty of Fort Meigs; or, Why Didn’t the Myaamia Sell Their Rights to Land in Northwest Ohio?
By Isaac Stephani and Cam Shriver Note: This blog post stems from original research conducted by undergraduate student Isaac Stephani in Dr. Cam Shriver’s Intro to the Miami Tribe class at Miami University in spring 2019. In late September of 1817, the Treaty of Fort Meigs, also known as the Treaty of Maumee Rapids, was signed….
“We have not seen the end” The Battle of Mississinewa and the War of 1812 in Myaamionki
By George Ironstrack & Cameron Shriver aacimwitaawi: ciikaahkwe iihkipisinonki waapaahšiki siipionki neehi nimacihsinwi siipionki, niiyaaha myaamiaki eeminooteeciki. aalinta naapiši eeminooteeciki waapanahkiaki. wiihsa mihtohseeniaki weešitookiki weehki-wiikiaama, wiiyoonkonci mihši-maalhsaki šaakosankiki amenooteenawa. ‘Let us recount: Near Peru, Indiana on the Wabash and Mississinewa Rivers, there the Miami Indians build a town. Some Delawares built a town there as…
Stomp Dancing in Historical Sources
2018 Winter Gathering. Photo by Jonathan Fox. Soon, Myaamiaki ‘Miami people’ and their friends will gather again for the Miami Nation Winter Gathering. A particular highlight is the large (and annually growing) stomp dance on Saturday night. Although historically Myaamia people did not regard the stomp dance as sacred or original with them, it certainly…
