- October 3, 2013
Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair will be doing a lecture on Anishinaabeg storytelling at Winnipeg’s Millennium Library on Thursday, October 3rd at 7 pm.
This event will draw on the collection he co-edited, Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories, which is quickly becoming a foundational text for understanding the field of Aboriginal Studies.
When: Thursday, October 3, 7:00 pm
Where: Millennium Library (Carol Shields auditorium), Winnipeg
Cost: FREE
About the Book
For the Anishinaabeg people, who span a vast geographic region from the Great Lakes to the Plains and beyond, stories are vessels of knowledge. They are bagijiganan, offerings of the possibilities within Anishinaabeg life. Existing along a broad narrative spectrum, from aadizookaanag (traditional or sacred narratives) to dibaajimowinan (histories and news)—as well as everything in between—storytelling is one of the central practices and methods of individual and community existence. Stories create and understand, survive and endure, revitalize and persist. They honor the past, recognize the present, and provide visions of the future. In remembering, (re)making, and (re)writing stories, Anishinaabeg storytellers have forged a well-traveled path of agency, resistance, and resurgence. Respecting this tradition, this groundbreaking anthology features twenty-four contributors who utilize creative and critical approaches to propose that this people’s stories carry dynamic answers to questions posed within Anishinaabeg communities, nations, and the world at large. Examining a range of stories and storytellers across time and space, each contributor explores how narratives form a cultural, political, and historical foundation for Anishinaabeg Studies. Written by Anishinaabeg and non-Anishinaabeg scholars, storytellers, and activists, these essays draw upon the power of cultural expression to illustrate active and ongoing senses of Anishinaabeg life. They are new and dynamic bagijiganan, revealing a viable and sustainable center for Anishinaabeg Studies, what it has been, what it is, what it can be.
About Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair
Co-editor Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair (Anishinaabe) is Assistant Professor in Native Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is also co-editor (with Warren Cariou) of the bestselling Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water.
