Advanced Lessons

Advanced lessons are really not lessons at all, or perhaps they are a doorway to the idea that every word is a lesson and every story a theory. This section is for advanced learners and offers a space to compare various dialects, orthographies, and styles of Anishinaabemowin. Texts in this area introduce and respond to old and new documents, digital and visual media and attempt to create a space for speakers of the language to engage in debate about translation, transcription, rhetoric, aesthetics, the connection between language, identity and health. It is a place to ask where we’ve been and where to go in the decolonizing project of language revitalization and preservation. Aaniin ezhi-ikidowinankeyang? Aaniin ezhi nitaa-anishinaabemoyang? In our dreams everyone who begins to speak Anishinaabemowin will one day confidently engage in the kind of story-asking and story-telling we want to gather here. In some colleges and universities this area can be used as a resource for third year courses and we hope it also inspires ongoing scholarship at all levels both in community centers and academic institutions. If you have feedback, suggestions or contributions please contact us.

Aphorisms with Alphonse Pitawanakwat

Anishinaabemowin speaker and teacher, Alphonse Pitawanakwat has compiled over 70 aphorisms. Aphorisms are simple, always memorable, statements of truth. To create them requires talent, fluency in a language, and the wisdom of lived experience. Alphonse’s ability to translate the complex English aphorisms, requires creating them in Anishinaabemowin and demonstrates his skill in both his first and second languages. Much can be learned about both language and life from studying the games he has played with these words.

Baaweting Class with Leonard Kimewon-ba

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