Anton Treuer

 

DID YOU KNOW?

There are 574 federally recognized Indian Nations (variously called tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities and native villages) in the United States. Approximately 229 of these ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse nations are located in Alaska; the other federally recognized tribes are located in 35 other states. Additionally, there are state recognized tribes located throughout the United States recognized by their respective state governments.

Spotlight on Anton Treuer

Dr. Anton Treuer is an American academic and author specializing in the Ojibwe language and American Indian Studies as well as a cultural preservationist. He is a professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University Minnesota and a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities award winner. His mother Margaret Treuer is an enrolled member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation and a lifelong resident of the Leech Lake Ojibwe Reservation. She is a retired tribal judge and was the first female Indian attorney in the State of Minnesota.

Dr. Treuer grew up in and around the Leech Lake Reservation and has authored or edited 19 books. He is also widely known for his volunteer work at Ojibwe ceremonies, where he helps officiate at medicine dance and ceremonial drums in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Dr. Treuer is a dynamite speaker who relates well to his audience. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak several years ago in Walker MN. He was part of an informative presentation that was held to facilitate discussion between the community and members of the Leech Lake Reservation. I would highly recommend Dr. Treuer's book "Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask " published by St. Paul Minnesota Historical Society.

In his book Dr. Treuer answers the most commonly asked questions about American Indians, both historical and modern in a question and answer format. The book is factual, frank and written with a sense of humor.
I thought this succinct review I found summed up the book quite well...
It touches on Native American history, culture and language, tribal organization and relations with the US government, land theft and its continuing legacy of poverty, the history of oppression and the destruction of Indian culture, cultural practices such as powwows and ceremonies, ongoing challenges such as alcoholism, crime, and unemployment, and a grab-bag of stuff oblivious outsiders don't get, like casinos, the significance of eagle feathers and Indian names, whether Natives have a "mystical relationship with the land," and the appropriateness of the word "Indian."

A book review previously posted in Star Tribune paper
http://m.startribune.com/nonfiction-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-indians-but-were-afraid-to-ask-by-anton-treuer/149114965/?section=entertainment%2Fbooks
and a NPR interview
https://www.npr.org/2012/10/08/162392326/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-indians

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