About Us
In Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong, Paul Chaat Smith wrote that “Only when we recognize that our own individual, crazy personal histories, like those of every other Indian person of this century, are a tumble of extraordinary contradictions, can we begin making sense of lives.” This site is devoted to sharing the individual, crazy personal histories that don’t fit into the typical molds of what is expected of Native people.
The myth that Native families have always stayed in one place is just that — a myth. Even as we maintain our deep connections to our homelands and waters, many Indigenous people have long understood movement as part of life. Rather than a static binary of movement and rootedness, we have always built lives of connection across communities and geographies.
Today, about 90% of Native people live in urban and suburban spaces. There are vibrant multi-tribal urban Indigenous spaces in cities like Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. These urban spaces have also always been Indigenous territories, and those of us whose families have relocated to them are visitors on other nations' lands.
Indigenous relocations are often fluid -- our families have frequently moved back and forth, and many of us who live away from our tribal territories retain (or re-build) close ties to our families and homelands. Many of us are doing the hard work of sustaining and revitalizing our languages, lifeways, and epistemologies wherever we are.
Reflecting these stories of movement and connection, our site name, aanjigozi, is an Ojibwe verb that indicates someone moving from one place to another to live. We use this word to invoke the many ways that our communities create, maintain, and grow connections to homes, lands, and waters across Turtle Island.
The myth that Native families have always stayed in one place is just that — a myth. Even as we maintain our deep connections to our homelands and waters, many Indigenous people have long understood movement as part of life. Rather than a static binary of movement and rootedness, we have always built lives of connection across communities and geographies.
Today, about 90% of Native people live in urban and suburban spaces. There are vibrant multi-tribal urban Indigenous spaces in cities like Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. These urban spaces have also always been Indigenous territories, and those of us whose families have relocated to them are visitors on other nations' lands.
Indigenous relocations are often fluid -- our families have frequently moved back and forth, and many of us who live away from our tribal territories retain (or re-build) close ties to our families and homelands. Many of us are doing the hard work of sustaining and revitalizing our languages, lifeways, and epistemologies wherever we are.
Reflecting these stories of movement and connection, our site name, aanjigozi, is an Ojibwe verb that indicates someone moving from one place to another to live. We use this word to invoke the many ways that our communities create, maintain, and grow connections to homes, lands, and waters across Turtle Island.
site curator
The 90% was started by Meredith McCoy. Meredith is of Ojibwe and Metis descent through her father, David McCoy, who is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band. Meredith's family relocated to Tacoma, WA in the 1940s, and she grew up in North Carolina. She is currently an Assistant Professor of American Studies and History at Carleton College.
The 90% was started by Meredith McCoy. Meredith is of Ojibwe and Metis descent through her father, David McCoy, who is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band. Meredith's family relocated to Tacoma, WA in the 1940s, and she grew up in North Carolina. She is currently an Assistant Professor of American Studies and History at Carleton College.
