Sugar Bush Babies

Stories of My Ojibwe Grandmother

Inbunden, Engelska, 2025

259 kr

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A memoir of lessons learned from an Ojibwe grandmother during the time of Relocation Why, her mother asked, did Janis keep running away from kindergarten? She wanted to go home. But not to the house they had just moved to in Duluth, with its gravel yard and traffic noise. She was a country girl, and home was the log cabin among the wildflowers on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in Bena, Minnesota. Knowing they were now going to stay in the city, Janis’s parents offered her a compromise: during the summer, Janis could leave the bustle of Duluth and live with her grandmother on the Fond du Lac Reservation, listening to stories, learning Ojibwe, and finding her place in the world. In Sugar Bush Babies, Janis A. Fairbanks returns to that time of Relocation, dislocation, and discovery, taking us home with her through stories of childhood and lessons learned at her grandmother’s knee, enveloped in love and tradition. Through the eyes of a child and the teachings of an elder, Fairbanks revisits her life during Indian Relocation from reservations to urban areas, from Ojibwe villages to white communities whose ideas about Indians came from Hollywood Westerns. Recalling her early childhood at Leech Lake, her school days in Duluth, and her summers in Fond du Lac, Janis brings the gifts of living history full circle, continuing the traditions of carrying family lore, women’s wisdom, and Indigenous culture from generation to generation. There are tales told at nighttime or during thunderstorms; lessons in Native medicine; stories of Grandma’s recollections of boarding school, Daddy’s days as a lumberjack, and Mother’s special powers; memories of wash days and dancing, of powwows and Girl Scout camp, of snaring rabbits, selling lilacs, and attending the circus. A lyrical memoir, Sugar Bush Babies conveys the eloquence of women speaking and sharing through generations and the lasting power of tradition.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2025-10-07
Mått140 x 210 x 7 mm
Vikt227 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor128
FörlagUniversity of Minnesota Press
ISBN9781517919023

Tillhör följande kategorier

Socialhistoria och kulturhistoria inom Historia och arkeologi
Sanna berättelser inom Biografier
Etnicitet inom Samhälle och politik

"Janis A. Fairbanks shows us how connection, culture, and community are more than dreams—they live inside of us wherever we go. Her journey from and back to her grandmother's Ojibwe teachings in Sugar Bush Babies speaks to us all."—Anton Treuer, author of Where Wolves Don't Die"In her exquisitely lucid and tender memoir, Janis A. Fairbanks links her grandmother's life to her own and the 'little grandmothers' to come, sharing histories, memories, and what she has learned. The story is a treasured gift from an Elder and the Elders before her, a sweetness of knowledge shared in traditional Ojibwe fashion."—Linda LeGarde Grover, author of Gichigami Hearts: Stories and Histories from Misaabekong"Sugar Bush Babies is a beautiful historical account of Ojibwe life in Minnesota. It is a full-circle story of Janis A. Fairbanks's time with her grandmother growing up. She acknowledges her own role in the circle of life: 'I recall the first time I understood that the little grandmothers-in-training were following me in the dance circle.' We can all follow Janis and her grandmother's Ojibwe teachings as we read her story."—Marcie R. Rendon, author of Anishinaabe Songs for a New Millennium"A spirited and tender memoir, Sugar Bush Babies is about a midcentury Native American girlhood and the beloved grandmother who illuminated its spaces."—Foreword Reviews"In this humorous and loving ode, Janis A. Fairbanks shares stories and lessons she learned from her Ojibwe grandmother. From the importance of the Ojibwe language to caring for the natural world, Fairbanks grew to understand the importance of kindness, strength and compassion, and to cultivate these traits in others. "—Ms. Magazine"This memoir completes the circle of tradition and extending the wisdom of accumulated knowledge to the next generation."—Lake Superior Magazine"Fairbanks' storytelling about women and how they interact with men contains so much quiet wisdom. And her book is a window into another culture and how it observes and coexists with an other dominant one. Highly recommended."—Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal"Fairbanks carries forward the voice of a people and a family whose stories deserve to beheard. And with Sugarbush Babies, she invites all of us to sit down and listen."—Grand Rapids Herald-Review