Gibagadinamaagoom

In Ojibwemowin ('the language of the Anishinaabe or Ojibwe people'), Gibagadinamaagoom means 'to bring to life, to sanction, and to give permission.' The mission of this educational website, therefore, is to sanction the authority of chi-ayy ya agg ('Ojibwe wisdom-keepers'), who give permission to share their wisdom and to bring to life the digital objects in this site through the powers of their storytelling.

Gibagadinamaagoom is designed to return cultural artifacts in digital form from non-Indian museums and archives to Ojibwe communities. The digital stories told here are meant, first and foremost, to be used by Ojibwe students in high school Quiz Bowls and in tribal college classrooms and Knowledge Bowls.

The Ojibwe wisdom-keepers who have been generous enough to share their knowledge, speak only for themselves. We recognize that these stories do not represent the many Anishinaabeg communities spread across the United States and Canada, nor even a single community. We welcome other voices.

We hope the site will also be of interest to scholars in many different fields. Our goal is to demonstrate the importance of designing digital codes that are in keeping with traditional Ojibwe codes of conduct. The site sanctions the teachings of Ojibwe Elders, Language-Keepers, Pipe-Carriers, Drum-Keepers, Tribal Historians, and school children. They have a great deal to teach scholars, and we thank them for that—miigwech.