Gaa-izhi-miinigoowizid a’aw Anishinaabe: What We Were Given as Anishinaabe

Gaa-izhi-miinigoowizid a’aw Anishinaabe: What We Were Given as AnishinaabeA respected Ojibwe elder records the many traditions and ceremonies, from birth customs and dream catchers to fasting and first kill feasts, practiced by Ojibwe children and their parents. The Ojibwe have many ways of marking important moments in an Ojibwe childs life. Customs surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. Handling of a babys belly button. A childs first moccasins. What happens when a child first touches the ground. Naming ceremonies. What to

stories and songs passed down from grandparents

They do not self-present as white but rather represent themselves as variously classed

Waa’aka’ is a beautiful children’s book in the classic style

Authored by a team of eleven Ojibwe language speakers and richly illustrated by Ojibwe artist Jonathan Thunder

Native American history is treated as a finished chapter instead of an ongoing story

Walker’s provocative wordplay channels Iktómi with sometimes inharmonious examinations of Indigeneity

human development

but the dadibaajim narratives of eight community members spanning three generations form the heart of this book

and constitute the norm

and the souls of plants and animals

education history

First published in 1911