Indigenous Peoples' Day 2024

On Indigenous Peoples' Day, we

  • Honor our Indigenous students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community partners.
  • Celebrate the important teaching, research, creative work, and collaboration that involves and studies Native cultures, history, languages, and issues.
  • Recognize that our University and society have work to do to continue to move toward reconciliation and healing with Tribal Nations.

Land Acknowledgement

Hau mitákuyepi! (Hello, our fellow creation!)  
Boozhoo indinawemaaganag! (Hello, my relatives!)

 

We call upon our neighbors in the University community and the good people of the state of Minnesota to acknowledge and reflect upon the fact that the University of Minnesota stands on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the homelands of the Dakhóta Oyáte. We call upon our neighbors to acknowledge that the river that winds through campus links us to the sacred site of the Dakhóta people’s origin at Bdote, where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi. Our Dakhóta hosts invite us to say “Bdote,” to say “Miní Sóta Makhóčhe,” to acknowledge the Dakhóta Oyate’s sovereignty and their spiritual ownership of this homeland, their place of origin. This sovereignty, this place, and this water is sacred, and the Department of American Indian Studies wants to share this fact with those who may have forgotten that. 

opening lines to the Department of American Indian Studies' "On Purpose" statement, 2018 

The TRUTH Report

The Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing—TRUTH—project is a Native-organized, Native-led, community-driven research movement that offers multiple recommendations on how the University of Minnesota community can be in better relation with Indigenous peoples.

The Department of American Indian Studies fully endorses the TRUTH Report and calls upon the University community and the public to join us in demanding that the Board of Regents and upper administration take immediate action to stop and repair the University of Minnesota’s historic and ongoing harm that continues to be perpetrated against Dakota, Ojibwe, Ho-Chunk, and other American Indian and Indigenous peoples of this area.

Statement on the TRUTH Report and Demands

Recent investments in American Indian studies

George Morrison stands with arms crossed, looking at the camera, in front of a window in a painting studio, black and white
George Morrison. Photo courtesy of University Archives.

Established in 2024, the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts is an interdepartmental study center that supports the creation, presentation, and interpretation of Indigenous art in all its forms.

Named in honor of Grand Portage Ojibwe artist and UMN faculty member George Morrison (1919–2000), the center is a collaboration between the Department of American Indian Studies and the Department of Art, with initial funding from the College of Liberal Arts. Taking a broad definition of the arts, we act as an incubator for scholarship, advocacy, and engagement, working across disciplines and departments to develop a wide range of programming.


Meet a few of CLA's Indigenous students, alumni & faculty

Language revitalization

A Living Language Resource

The Ojibwe People's Dictionary is a searchable, talking Ojibwe-English dictionary that features the voices of Ojibwe speakers. Established by faculty and students in the Department of American Indian Studies, the dictionary supports language education and encourages new speakers among the present generation. Learn more about the Ojibwe People's Dictionary.

Retro poster of Star Wars for Ojibwe version, "Anangong Miigaading"

Star Wars in Ojibwe film showing

The University of Minnesota premiere of Anangong Miigaading will be at the Coffman Theater on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at 6:00 PM. This event will be free and open to the public. Registration is requested.

Film showing details

Support these languages

You can help ensure that these languages are passed down to future generations.

Make a gift to the Dakota Language Program

Make a gift to the Ojibwe Language Program

Make a gift to the Ojibwe People's Dictionary 

 

Learn with us in spring ‘25

Did you know that you do not need to be an enrolled student to take our courses? Learn more about getting started with the Ojibwe & Dakota Language Courses Guide and by reviewing the resources below.

Registration begins on November 12 for students admitted to degree or certificate programs and on December 6 for visiting and non-degree-seeking students.

 


 

Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Learn about how the Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies brings together faculty and students to pursue lines of inquiry that challenge systems of power and inequality, assert human dignity, and imagine social transformation.

Circle of Indigenous Nations

Part of the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence, the Circle of Indigenous Nations is a student services office that works to recruit, retain, and graduate American Indian/First Nations/Alaska Native students.

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