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
Originally from Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada, Leonard Kimewon-ba lived in Michigan for many years, returning frequently to Wikwemikong for family events. He and his wife Elizabeth were first-speakers of the language and never stopped using it at home and with friends. Some of his children are now teachers of Anishinaabemowin. Leonard-ba reached out to students wherever they were: on-line, through newspaper lessons and at language camps. Susan Askwith attended his classes for many years where he taught the deeper meaning of words and phrases, and some of the traditional values and ways of living. We are thankful to Leonard-ba for a lifetime of teaching which entailed lots of travel and evening hours, even after he had been retired many years. Gimiigwechwigo, Leonard-ba!