Welcome to Bemaadizing!
Priscilla A. Day, Editor
The Beginning
Boozhoo (hello). Welcome to the first edition of Bemaadizing (roughly translated means “our life” in Ojibwe). As with many good things, this edition has taken longer than expected to complete but we hope you will find the articles worth the wait. For this first edition, invited scholars were asked to write about the theme of, “The place of Indigenous scholarship in preserving Native life.” Authors wrote about this theme both from diverse perspectives of discipline but also from their own unique lens on the world–so like Indigenous life itself. Two articles are about teaching pedagogy– oral tradition and it’s role in the classroom and second language learners teaching Ojibwe. One article is written by two non–Native students who share their experience in working in collaboration with Native professors on community–based projects. The fourth article is about the role universities can take in working in collaboration with tribal communities leading to positive, meaningful outcomes. The final article is about Indigenous leadership, which we are so in need of today. Mii–gwitch (thanks) for the contributions of these authors.
As you can see, each of these articles makes a meaningful contribution to the theme and serves as a solid foundation for this first edition. All of these articles provide insight into the kind of outreach and scholarship that is being done by American Indians in academia in Native communities. We hope you find them useful. You are invited to email authors directly with your feedback in the hopes that it will spark further collaboration. We invite you to use this journal as a way to learn from one another through sharing your projects, perspectives, and research in exploring Indigenous life so that we may all benefit.
History
For many years, American Indian faculty at the University of Minnesota Duluth, have discussed starting an American Indian Journal. The idea started to come to life when Dr. Tom Peacock convened a group in the fall of 2006 to begin to discuss how to make this idea become a reality. From these discussions, Bemaadizing emerged. When I asked Tom later why he wanted to start a journal he talked about the desire to have the American Indian faculty at UMD to work together and also for the larger reason of believing that as Indigenous people, we need to engage in what Bereiter (2002) refers to “knowledge building”. Tom believes that Native people “will need to create new knowledge in order to ensure a future in which we have living languages, enduring ways, and the promise of hope.” Well said.
The original idea was to have a multi–disciplinary on–line journal format with an Editor and six Content Editors (Education, Indian Studies, History, Medicine/Health, Social Work and Culture/Language). Reviewers composed of noted American Indian academics in each field would conduct blind reviews of each article. The original group of UMD Content editors who helped with initial ideas and format are: American Indian Studies–Linda Grover; History–Scott Laderman and Steve Matthews; Social Work–Priscilla Day; Language/Culture–Brian McGuines; Education–Tom Peacock. Early in the process it was decided that Priscilla Day would serve as Editor. We were fortunate to have the technical assistance of Mike Sullivan who was working at UMD with technology. This group met for about a year and came up with ideas for the format. It became clear at some point that the journal should start as a non–refereed journal that could assist emerging faculty with writing and getting their ideas out in a professional format. That is what Bemaadizing hopes to do–provide an opportunity, especially to emerging American Indian academics to get feedback directly from readers about their ideas and perhaps to find other researchers with whom to collaborate. Mike Sullivan continued with the journal after he left UMD and has served as Webmaster and is responsible for putting everything on–line. Melanie McGinn, an MSW student at UMD served as the copy editor. Many thanks to everyone who helped make this a reality.
Future
The future of the journal is up to you! Please join us in making Bemaadizing a success. We are looking for people to sit on our Editorial Board (see below) and to submit papers (see format). If you are interested, please review criteria and contact the Editor. Miigwitch (thanks)!
Please Consider Joining Bemaadizing as a Review Board Member
- Review Board Role:
- Read submissions to determine applicability and readiness to be posted on line for feedback from others who might be interested in the topic. This board will not serve as “editors” but rather reviewers. Reviewers are needed from American Indian Studies, Social Work, Education, History, Language/Culture and related fields.
- Criteria to Serve on Review Board:
- In order to serve as a reviewer you must show in-depth knowledge in an academic or practice area, willingness and time to commit to read submissions in this area two times a year, access to on-line technology, an ability to use it, and a commitment of 2 years. If you are interested, email your curriculum vitae or resume to editor. Reviewers will be chosen depending on meeting qualifications and need for reviewers in a academic area. Contact the editor if you have questions.
Editor Info
- Priscilla A. Day, MSW, Ed.D.
- University of Minnesota Duluth
- College of Education & Human Service Professions
- Professor, Department of Social Work
- editor@bemaadizing.org