It’s a bit quieter at Miami University and Oxford this week, as most of Miami University’s students have left campus for summer break. As the staff here at the Myaamia Center transition into neepinwiki ‘summer’ and prepare for summer programs, we wanted to reflect on this past academic year. This past weekend, on May 13,…
Category: Heritage
Picking Up the Threads
Written by Jared Nally It’s spring in Myaamionki, and sap is flowing, making it easier to peel the bark from wiikapimiši ‘basswood’, oonseentia ‘tulip poplar’, and ašaahšikopa ‘slippery elm’ trees. This time is a reminder of the ecological relationships associated with Myaamia textiles. The inner bark of these trees provides early-season fibers for Great Lakes…
mahkwa pimi ‘Black Bear Grease’
As we are in the midst of Mahkwa Kiilhswa ‘Black Bear Moon,’ I thought it would be fitting to write a brief post about one of the favorite all purpose substances of the Myaamia past: mahkwa pimi ‘Black bear grease.’ In one of our community’s favorite Aalhsoohkaana ‘Winter Stories,’ Wiihsakacaakwa goes out visiting to his…
Benefits of Storytelling: Take-Aways from my Dissertation
As some of you know, I completed my doctoral degree at Iowa State University in 2019. As part of the process, I had to write a dissertation, a long and arduous manuscript summarizing findings from an independent research study. I wrote mine about the impact of Myaamia storytelling on living well for Myaamiaki. I interviewed…
mihsoolatenwi ‘Canoe Hill’
In early November of this year, I made a trip to Šikaakonki ‘Chicago’ for a meeting at the Newberry Library about a project called Indigenous Chicago. I was born in Šikaakonki and still have a lot of family living in the city and surrounding suburbs. However, due to COVID, I hadn’t made many trips to…
Myaamia Women from the Strass Family
Many narratives about Native communities broadly, and the Myaamia community specifically, are often told through the lens of the male perspective. There are many reasons for this; for example, many of these stories are told first by the French Jesuit missionaries and later linguists and anthropologists who recorded our histories. As a result, the values…
Naming as a Source of Resiliency
By Kiišikohkwa ‘Haley Shea’ and Meemeehšhkia ‘George Ironstrack’ My (Kiišikohkwa – Haley) journey toward receiving a Myaamia name reflects the growth and change that I have experienced within my own Myaamia identity. Before I began attending tribal educational programming, I knew my father had a “Native name” that we were told was not Myaamia but…
Making Myaamia Mahkisina
My first mahkisina ‘moccasins’ were given to me by one of my distantly related cousins. Odds are that she also got them as a hand-me-down. I was young enough that I don’t remember much about them because they only fit for a short period of time. Replacing them was never a priority since I did…
Eehsenaamišipoohkiiyankwi (Meeloohkamiki 2021) ‘Maple Sugaring (Spring 2021)’
Last week, the frogs began singing loudly and a thunderstorm brought about the end of peepoonki ‘winter’ and the beginning of neepinwiki ‘summer.’ In addition to putting away Aalhsoohkaana ‘Winter Stories’ we also closed out the 2021 Maple sugaring season. This year was a shortened season due to the unseasonably warm weather that we had…
Mahkoonsihkwa’s Experience with Myaamia Ribbonwork
My journey with Myaamia ribbonwork started the same way that it has for many Myaamia people, through a community workshop about six years ago. Prior to the workshop, I had very little knowledge about ribbonwork and no idea how to make it, but I was excited to learn about this art form that is a…
Aacimotaatiiyankwi 