Meeting Our Ancestors’ Legacy: The Community-Based Inquiry of Wicoie Nandagikendan

Abstract

More than twenty-five years ago, a group of women in South Minneapolis conceived of “a place to learn words,” a place where our children could learn the Dakota and Ojibwe languages. Today that place is Wicoie Nandagikendan Dakota and Ojibwe Immersion Program. For our entire existence, we have partnered with other organizations and borrowed space in others’ buildings to teach our children. Our Community-Based Inquiry began as a process of finding and creating our own space. Our inquiry has evolved into a journey of understanding that space is much more than a physical “place to learn words”; our space will be a place of health, wellness, culture, and language for our children, our organization, and our community.