The Grand Portage of the St. Louis River: Reinterpretations and Language Revitalization

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Heritage Sites at the Intersection of Landscape, Memory, and Place: Archaeology, Heritage Commemoration, and Practice" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Grand Portage of the St. Louis River is both a historic route and a series of historic sites originally documented as a fur trade connection between Lake Superior and the Mississippi River Basin. Although often considered a “contact period” site, the trail has connected diverse landscapes and peoples for thousands of years into the present era of interactions between settlers and the local Anishinaabe, including our authors. Our project brings forward Anishinaabeg women’s voices of past and present and their connections to the history of paddling and traveling, connecting that history to the results of compliance archaeology. The story of the “Women’s Portage” highlights Indigenous women’s contributions in the creation of cultural landscapes into the present day, including transportation networks. Translating some of this history into Ojibwemowin, the living language spoken by descendants of the Anishinaabe, supports expanding local language revitalization efforts. Understanding the meanings behind descriptive Ojibwemowin also deepens understanding of the portaging cultural landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Heritage Sites at the Intersection of Landscape, Memory, and Place: Archaeology, Heritage Commemoration, and Practice   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37431.0