By K.E. Macphie
Anongong: Miigaading (Star Wars: A New Hope) brought the Ojibwe language to the big screen last month as just one more step in getting Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) back into view. Although the project was produced in Canada, it should be no surprise that Minnesota contributed significantly to our neighbors in the north, as we are home to more Ojibwe speakers than anywhere else in the United States.
Our language experts like Aagimewigamig (Dustin Morrow) from the U of M, and Waagosh (Anton Treuer) from Bemidji State not only added their voices, but also their linguistic and historical knowledge to help invent Ojibwe words for things like “lightsaber” to help fit the language to the Jedi universe.
This is only the latest pop culture win for Ojibwe this decade. In 2021, our words were featured in the New York Times bestselling young adult novel, The Firekeepers Daughter by Angeline Boulley of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe in Michigan. Her book has gone on to win the 2022 Edgar Allen Poe award among many others and is currently listed as one of Time’s “100 Best YA Books of All Time.” The audiobook was read with the Ojibwe beautifully spoken by Isabella Star LaBlanc, a St. Paul native and citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota tribe.
The rights to that story have been purchased for a Netflix series adaptation, and Boulley has stated she hopes to see Native actors and language featured on the streaming service soon. We can hope it gets equal or greater success than shows like Reservation Dogs and Dark Winds that have been streaming online and telling the stories of other tribes.
While TV and movies are fun to watch, the real hope is that they inspire a new generation of language learners. Our original speakers are getting older, and many of them were forced to forget the language as a method of survival in a harsher period.
It’s important to note: while the language is being taught and learned by the survivors of the Indian boarding schools, we are only one or two generations removed from the relatives that were punished for speaking it. We, as a younger generation, are grateful for the sacrifice, because language can be regenerated, our people are always the priority, and we are glad you persevered.
To start that regeneration, we are so fortunate forward thinking researchers and historians in our current culture have had the foresight to record the elder voices and begin projects like The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary, a searchable online dictionary created with the support of the University of Minnesota Department of American Indian Studies that began publishing written and recorded Ojibwe words in 2012. It’s a tool to find any word and get an Ojibwe-English translation, definition, and sometimes listen to a pronunciation. Even the more advanced language speakers among us say it’s a useful tool in their day to day learning.
Then there is the Ojibwe Rosetta Stone Project that was spearheaded by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and launched in 2022. They ensured that our language program would be just as professionally recorded and written as all of the other languages that Rosetta Stone produces, and then they released it for free to their Band members, for cheap to all other tribal members (only $40 for the whole course), and at market price to the rest of the world ($145, as of this writing).
The great part about Rosetta Stone is that you can learn at your own pace and take the classes when you want. The difficult part is that you’re on your own with no teacher and no deadline to hold you accountable, so it’s easy to fade out of the lessons, but this can be a great introduction to get you to the next step.
One of those next steps is beginning at the White Earth Niibi Center in October. Ayaanikeshkaagewaad (the next one in succession) Language Revitalization will be a four week course for beginners focused on new learners on the White Earth Reservation. It’s taught by Wezaawibines (Wayne Somes) and Bimwewe (Serena Graves-Daniel), both local emerging advanced language speakers with backgrounds in education and teaching. Wayne also teaches a story translation session Mondays on Zoom, where you can find many other language learning sessions.
Another Monday Zoom session is with Biindigaygiizhigokwe (Dené Sinclair) and Gwiiwizens (Ricky DeFoe), as they partner with Duluth-based AICHO – American Indian Community Housing Organization – to provide a space for both beginners and intermediate language learners to practice together, face to face online. Dené is just about the kindest teacher you can ask for, and Ricky is always encouraging and smiling along with speakers as they move from slowly stumbling through all the consonants and double vowels of our language and into a smooth and entertaining back and forth conversation between video chats.
And once you get online with your learning, the opportunities are endless. YouTube Channels of interviews and language lessons, TikTok Ojibwe Word of the Day or #NativeTok trends, Facebook groups for language learners that lead to weekly speaking sessions.
If you are looking, you will find an opportunity that fits your learning style. And in typical Native fashion, we are not gatekeepers of our knowledge; as more people are learning the language, they are sharing it and bringing others up with them in different mediums with their own spin.
Learning the language is hard but important work. As part of the healing era, we have the capacity to support all of these teachers and programs that are trying everything they can to make this as accessible to all of us. Let’s listen, and at least try. Knowing the language doesn’t make you “better than” or “more Native” but this writer has found that it brings you closer to your ancestors and helps you understand the culture much better.
