This course has been canceled for 2013. Please check back in fall 2014 for updates. If you have questions, please contact us.
This award-winning cultural engagement and educational course will help students understand the concept of worldview while teaching them skills that deepen their cultural competency. Through engagement with leading Ojibwe elders and educators, students will understand why the Ojibwe worldview has been in conflict with the Euro-American worldview during the past 300 years of conquest. Students will appreciate diversity, think more critically about their own history and culture, and identify values that shape their own worldviews. They will also practice skills of attentiveness, listening, observation, and reflection — all important in meaningful cross-cultural encounters.
Orientation (spring semester)
A face-to-face weekend orientation will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14, to prepare for the Maymester field experience.
Who Should Attend
- Any student who has a minimum 2.5 grade-point average and is 18 years of age or older
- Students who are looking for 3–6 credits under the course listing of CED 497C (Community, Environment, and Development)
- Students who want to earn 3–6 credits during Maymester
- Undergraduate or graduate students who are looking for an opportunity to learn about other cultures and ways of learning
Applicants are considered based on an assessment of their compatibility with the field experience. Students are encouraged to apply early, as enrollment is limited and applications are reviewed in the order they are received.
2013 Course Dates and Travel
Sunday, May 12: Depart from State College
Monday, May 13: Arrive at the American Indian Resource Center in Bemidji, Minnesota
Wednesday, May 29: Arrive back in State College
These dates include 14 days among the Ojibwe people and 4 days of travel by van through the Great Lakes region, following the Great Migration route of the Ojibwe from the St. Lawrence estuary on the Atlantic to the “land where food grows on water” (manomin, wild rice, the sacred food of the Ojibwe).
Location
Leech Lake Nation, Red Lake Nation, and White Earth Nation in northern Minnesota, the three largest Ojibwe reservations in North America
Accommodations
Pine Hall at Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota, and with host families in Red Lake, Redby, and Ponemah on the Red Lake Nation. Some students may also be with host families on the Leech Lake Nation during this field experience
Faculty
Dr. Bruce D. Martin grew up along the northernmost point of the Red Lake Nation on Lake of the Woods, Angle Inlet, Minnesota. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology at the University of Wisconsin, and a master’s and doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary. He has served as a cultural educator at Eastern Mennonite University, The Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Michigan. In addition to spending a sabbatical year among the Anishinaabeg of Minnesota (2002–03), he has led several seminars to Ojibwe country in the United States and Canada. Dr. Martin is currently an adjunct instructor for the College of Agricultural Sciences.
