ASIIHKIWI NEEHI KIISIKWI: A MULTI-GENERATIONAL, CULTURALLY-EMBEDDED EARTH AND SKY CURRICULUM CONNECTING THE MIAMI PEOPLE TO THEIR HOMELANDS

A challenge to science outreach to native communities is the perceived incompatibility of science and culture [1]. Yet, both scientists and native communities share place, with geologists deriving the history of place through the study of rocks and indigenous communities embedding sense of place in their cultures and languages [2].

As a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, my work has focused on the Miami (myaamia), a Central Algonquian speaking people historically centered on the Wabash River in Indiana. Forced removal in 1846 to Kansas and subsequent removal to Oklahoma divided the community. After a century and a half of cultural and language loss, current revitalization efforts are reversing these trends.

Together with Tribal linguists, cultural preservationists, artists, and engineers we have developed a multi-generational printed and web-based curriculum on Earth and Sky embedded within the culture of the myaamiaki to strengthen the sense of connection to place.

Stories – particularly winter stories – are important in native communities. For our youngest citizens, we have three illustrated stories (ahkwaniswa neehi anikwa; peepicinehkia neehi ahsena; waawaahsamwa neehi kiilhswa) on concepts of awareness, earth, and sky. We use myaamia for the main characters to encourage language use and provide online sound clips for pronunciation.

Connection to place comes not from reading, but from experiencing your place. For school-aged children, we have 11 printed and web-supported activities, including exploring your place on foot, collecting rocks, exploring how the Sun marks direction and time, how the Moon marks the month and year, how ecological changes are recorded in our perception of time, to drawing and writing about your place.

Places have overlapping histories, ranging from their formation long ago to the histories of the people who inhabit them today. For adults, we look at the geologic and cultural stories of 9 places in our homelands, ranging from how glaciers sculpted the rivers that became the traditional homeland of our people to how lead and zinc mines in Oklahoma continue to alter our lives. Online maps provide directions and additional information.

[1] Cajete G. (2000) Native Science. Clear Light Publishers. [2] Basso K.H. (1996) Wisdom Sits in Places. Univ. of New Mexico Press.