I find what you've written as a great example of one of the more insidious challenges that can make ancestral research difficult for descendants of immigrants, Indigenous kin, and enslaved people. The constant misspelling & alternative spelling of names by census recorders and the like is a systemic issue that (I think) speaks volumes on the disparities between the white settler colonial experience and the experience of everyone else living here.
Thanks again, best of luck in your continued investigations!
These stories of Kakaygeesick are fascinating Jill and so well-researched and informative. I love how you share here that, despite the disparities in some of the information, you've gone to the source - Kakaygeesick's own family. Really beautifully told. Thank-you for this.
I am so grateful to Don Kakaygeesick for his willingness to tell me his stories and provide me with access to his family, their archives, and memories. Thank you for reading with care.
Love this. Such a beautiful weaving of language nuances then closing with fact, "Never spoke English." My professor the other day mentioned that the word "sacred" has a different meaning in Anishinaabemowin. I know nothing else about this distinction but sure would like to.
Thanks for reading, Alexis. I'm fascinated by the ways in which language shapes our attitudes, beliefs, and feelings in ways we may not consciously aware of. In learning about the Ojibway language, a worldview is embedded and the contrast reveals how my own language embeds certain structures in my mind. And this makes me curious about how words like "sacred" convey meaning in different ways to different contexts. Would love to hear more about what you learn.
Thanks for sharing your research!
I find what you've written as a great example of one of the more insidious challenges that can make ancestral research difficult for descendants of immigrants, Indigenous kin, and enslaved people. The constant misspelling & alternative spelling of names by census recorders and the like is a systemic issue that (I think) speaks volumes on the disparities between the white settler colonial experience and the experience of everyone else living here.
Thanks again, best of luck in your continued investigations!
Agreed. These research challenges make it easy for the “unforgetting” of what happened in the past. The butchering of names is more than a metaphor.
These stories of Kakaygeesick are fascinating Jill and so well-researched and informative. I love how you share here that, despite the disparities in some of the information, you've gone to the source - Kakaygeesick's own family. Really beautifully told. Thank-you for this.
I am so grateful to Don Kakaygeesick for his willingness to tell me his stories and provide me with access to his family, their archives, and memories. Thank you for reading with care.
Love this. Such a beautiful weaving of language nuances then closing with fact, "Never spoke English." My professor the other day mentioned that the word "sacred" has a different meaning in Anishinaabemowin. I know nothing else about this distinction but sure would like to.
Thanks for reading, Alexis. I'm fascinated by the ways in which language shapes our attitudes, beliefs, and feelings in ways we may not consciously aware of. In learning about the Ojibway language, a worldview is embedded and the contrast reveals how my own language embeds certain structures in my mind. And this makes me curious about how words like "sacred" convey meaning in different ways to different contexts. Would love to hear more about what you learn.