Land Acknowledgement

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT

“When we talk about land, land is part of who we are. It’s a mixture of our blood, our past, our current, and our future. We carry our ancestors in us, and they’re around us. As you all do.” Mary Lyons (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe)

AMIIBL acknowledges the history of struggle, oppression, and genocide on the lands of Michigan, including the colonization, land theft, exploitation of first nations, and slavery.

At the time the land currently called the State of Michigan was stolen and colonized, most of the land belonged to the Ojibwe (aka Chippewa), Odawa (aka Ottawa), and the Potawatomi (aka Bode’wadmi). These three nations formed a partnership called Three Fires, and they shared a common culture. The name “Michigan” is a French spelling of the Ojibwe word “meshi-gami” meaning “big lake”. The Ojibwe were the “keepers of the ceremonies and song”, the Odawa were the “keepers of the trade”, and the Patawatomi were the “keepers of the fire”. Collectively they were the Anishinaabe (“original people”). Other nations in the region included the Huron (Wyandotte), Menominee, Fox, Miami, and Sauk (Sac).

As part of its work promoting active learning, AMIIBL wishes to celebrate the first nations by seeking out and sharing indigenous ways of knowing and doing mathematics, including the promotion of best practices for integrating indigenous mathematics respectfully into active learning classrooms.

We are collecting a list of resources to explore indigenous mathematics - please contribute!