The Way of the Elders'
The Way of the Elders’ Ma'iingan Ryan Bajan, First Nations Consultants Books, websites, articles, even videos may convey information. We have the ability to develop some kind of understanding and awareness about a topic through study. Yet, when we talk about knowledge as it pertains to the Anishinaabe culture as a whole, this is not the way learning takes place. An education standard, a textbook, these mediums cannot animate the spirit of a teaching. In many cases, it’d be better if we didn’t use these as an option for “learning.” A culture should have a right to the way it shares its knowledge and traditions. As a teenager I lacked a teacher for quite some time. I listened to tapes, a meager representation, of drum music trying to learn powwow songs on my drum. Yet it would be nearly 10 years before I realized that the teachings I sought were actually owned by a group of people. I was welcomed in, and