Indigenous Planning Summer Institute (IPSI) - Sharing and Learning with the Menominee Nation
by Theodore Jojola
In June of 2019, the University of New Mexico’s Indigenous Design + Planning Institute (iD+Pi) sponsored an experiential iTown course bringing together graduate planning students from New Mexico with professors and students from the Menominee Nation’s Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) in Wisconsin. iD+Pi is a UNM program that seeks to engage faculty, students, professionals, and policy leaders in culturally appropriate design and planning practices to foster sustainable communities within Indigenous populations. Student research in iD+Pi is guided by principles of social justice, healthy communities and respect for all cultures, and focuses primarily on Native tribes in the Southwest region.
Indigenous Planning Sustainability Institute (CRP 570) students: Chelsey Begay, Norman Cooeyate Andrea Calderon, Erika Robers, Ricardo Carbajal, and Sara Twiss & Dr. Ted Jojola (professor)
Created by the partnership of Chris Caldwell (President, College of Menominee), Kyle Whyte (Professor, Michigan State University), Ted Jojola (Professor, University of New Mexico), Michaela Shirley (UNM iD+Pi), and Alex Bryan (UMass Amherst), the purpose of the Indigenous Planning Summer Institute (IPSI) is to introduce concepts of Indigenous planning. We accomplish this by examining the SDI model of forest management and sustainability well as visiting and engaging with the surrounding tribal communities to see different examples of Indigenous Planning in practice.
IPSI is held annually in June. Upwards of 25 Indigenous students engage with one another to learn more about Indigenous principles and practices of planning and design. This is an Indigenous-led educational program. Students are taught a range of topics to apply: from Indigenous sustainability/resilience to decolonization theory and Indigenous resurgence to the relationship between Indigenous knowledge systems and science to Indigenous climate justice, among many other interests. During this session seven UNM graduate students in the Community and Regional Planning Department led by professor Ted Jojola, joined other students from across the nation to participate in the weeklong institute in Keshena, Wisconsin.
The purpose for the summer Sustainable Development Institute (SDI) on the Menominee Nation is to gather native students, faculty, professionals, activists, and allies from all over the United States to share ideas and learn from one another. A key component is a dialogue and collaboration, acknowledging that the collective experience within the group can provide the best opportunities for learning. According to Kyle White of SDI, “A major motivation for this institute is to have an educational experience hosted by an Indigenous nation, designed by Indigenous persons, and where the majority of the participants are Indigenous or from deeply allied peoples from different parts of North America and, if possible, the world.”
Proposed rendering of hoop house and repurposing of existing structures into art classrooms.
Part of this activity included working with Menīkánaehkem. This is a community grassroots organization on the Menominee Nation. Its staff are members of the Menominee nation and are driven by love for their relatives and all creation. The overarching goal of Menīkánaehkem is a revitalization of their community through programs that honor diversity and respect for the various strengths their members bring to the group. As an organization, they seek wellness through fostering healthy relationships, connection to the land, language preservation, and respect for their ancestors and for all creation. This effort is staged on an old farmstead section that was reclaimed by the tribe.
“A major motivation for this institute is to have an educational experience hosted by an Indigenous nation, designed by Indigenous persons, and where the majority of the participants are Indigenous or from deeply allied peoples from different parts of North America and, if possible, the world.”
Proposed rendering of Healing Garden with new traditional mound formation.
As participants of the Indigenous Planning Summer Institute 2019, UNM students connected with members of Menīkānaehkem for a planning session regarding an overview of their goals, challenges, and futuristic strategies. This engagement generated critical discussions of how Menīkānaehkem can develop a land use as based on their overall mission. Students were able to identify specific assets at Menīkānaehkem, and identified programs that expanded their pallet of other possibilities as based on programming for the cultural arts, diversifying the ecological experience of visitors and building a waterfront for a newly acquired parcel that gave them access to Loon Lake. As future planners, the students worked to transform these ideas into a seven generational thought process. The effort resulted in a preliminary land-use plan that detailed ideas for the future development of their farm.