On May 17, our group of twenty-six will camp under the stars on the northeastern shore of Lake Michigan. We’ll then trace the Ojibwe migration route along he southern shore of Lake Superior—through boreal forests and fertile bogs and past the crystal lakes of northern Minnesota. 

In the following three weeks, our Ojibwe leaders will immerse us in the academic, cultural, and spiritual aspects of their way of life.

We will examine Ojibwe history—migrations, the boarding school era, the American Indian Movement, and past and present tribal leadership.

We will learn about justice and aboriginal rights, from treaty rights to sovereignty to environmental justice to protection of native sacred sites.

We will study medicinal wild plants, wild rice harvesting, and sugar bush operations.

We will explore Ojibwe spirituality, story-telling, culture, language, and education.

We will learn by listening, but we will also learn by doing—by canoeing the headwaters of the Mississippi River, by fishing in Read Lake River, by hiking The Narrows, by living and eating with Ojibwe families, by dancing at an intertribal powwow, and by participating in a sweat lodge, a pipe ceremony, and a Big Drum ceremony.

This blog will chronicle our three-week-long journey. Please follow us as we explore the indigenous ways of knowing among the Anishinaabeg.