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 Exterior of museum | |
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| Established | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Location | 101 2nd Street W, Park Rapids, Minnesota 56470 |
| Coordinates | 46°55′17″N95°03′32″W / 46.921389°N 95.058889°W |
| Type | History |
| Executive director | Sarah LittleRedfeather |
| Website | giiwedinong.org |
The Giiwedinong Treaty Rights and Culture Museum in Park Rapids, Minnesota, was established in 2023 as the first museum in the state managed by Indigenous peoples, focusing on treaty rights, environmental justice, and cultural heritage. [1] [2]
The museum, named after the Anishinaabe word for "north," aims to present and preserve the history and culture of the Anishinaabe and Dakota peoples. It provides educational exhibits and programs designed to inform the public about the significance of treaty rights and the ongoing efforts for environmental justice. [3]
The museum features works from Anishinaabe artists and serves as a venue for storytelling, aiming to represent a range of voices and artistic expressions. It addresses topics at the intersection of Indigenous rights, environmental stewardship, and policy implications. [4]
A team of Indigenous historians, artists, and community leaders guide the museum, ensuring that it accurately reflects Anishinaabe perspectives. The museum partners with various cultural organizations to extend its educational outreach.
Exhibits at the museum cover historical treaties, cultural traditions, and current issues affecting Indigenous communities, with the goal of educating visitors on the Anishinaabe worldview and the relevance of treaty rights. [5]
Giiwedinong conducts educational initiatives for diverse audiences, facilitating engagement with Anishinaabe history, culture, and arts through structured programs and community involvement.
The museum is housed in a building originally funded by Andrew Carnegie in 1908, which served as the Park Rapids library for decades. After the library relocated for accessibility reasons, the building was repurposed for various uses, including a regional office for Enbridge. In 2022, the organization Akiing acquired the building to establish the museum, focusing on the representation of Anishinaabe culture and treaty rights. [6]
Winona LaDuke is an American environmentalist, writer, and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development.
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The Anishinaabe are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississaugas, Nipissing, and Algonquin peoples. The Anishinaabe speak Anishinaabemowin, or Anishinaabe languages that belong to the Algonquian language family.
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Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land, language, religion, and other elements of cultural heritage that are a part of their existence and identity as a people. This can be used as an expression for advocacy of social organizations, or form a part of the national law in establishing the relation between a government and the right of self-determination among its indigenous people, or in international law as a protection against violation of indigenous rights by actions of governments or groups of private interests.
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The Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) is a coalition of indigenous, grassroots environmental justice activists, primarily based in the United States. Group members have represented Native American concerns at international events such as the United Nations Climate Change conferences in Copenhagen (2009) and Paris (2016). IEN organizes an annual conference to discuss proposed goals and projects for the coming year; each year the conference is held in a different indigenous nation. The network emphasizes environmental protection as a form of spiritual activism. IEN received attention in the news as a major organizer of the fight against the Keystone Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
Tom B.K. Goldtooth is a Native American environmental, climate, and economic justice activist, speaker, film producer, and Indigenous rights leader. He is active at local, national, and international levels as an advocate for building healthy and sustainable Indigenous communities based upon the foundation of Indigenous traditional knowledge. Goldtooth has served as executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) since 1996 after serving as a member of the IEN National Council since 1992.
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