Ācemīqtatowak

Our Storytelling

Reclaiming Our Storytelling

We come from an oral traditional society where storytelling is central to our survival, understanding, and resilience as Menominee people. Oral traditional and intergenerational knowledge transmission is how we remember, pass teachings to younger generations, and safeguard cultural knowledge.

Sturgeon Puppetry workshop for Menominee youth

Our Approach

In our journey, we have had the privilege to learn stories about our people and weave the teachings they hold into our relationships as values that connect us and to the land. Our storytelling approach comes from a responsibility we have to protect our relatives, our community, and the knowledge entrusted to us. Therefore, how we share stories must honor all our relations and help to restore balance to the narratives told about us.

Our storytelling practice includes co-writing, co-producing, and co-leading with those whose voices are part of the story. Ownership and authorship must remain with the people and places the story originates, ensuring accuracy, respect, and reciprocity in our media.

Medicine Fish Productions

Through Medicine Fish Productions, we create films and media that embody these principles. Our Buffalo and Sturgeon stories share the kinship between our people and these relatives and give meaning to the importance of their return, restoration, and relationship.

Our young people serve as co-hosts and co-producers, going out into the community to seek knowledge, learn from Elders, and understand the origins of these relationships. Through this process, they gain experience in cultural responsibility and how they continue oral traditional knowledge transmission.