The Arikara, or more accurately “Sahnish,” are a northern Great Plains tribe currently living on the Ft. Berthold Indian Reservation in central North Dakota, USA. Until the late eighteenth century, the Arikara were one of the largest and most influential Native American groups on the northern plains. For centuries they have lived along the Missouri River, first in present South Dakota, later in what is now North Dakota. Genetic research also suggests that they may have spent time in southern Mexico. 

Author and Nobel Prize winner, Doris Lessing, once described teaching stories, as the “most valuable of treasures in human heritage.” Teaching stories serve several functions: They provide important life lessons and enable to find solutions in everyday problems; remind us of our responsibilities and help shape our identity; they teach us about morality and courage; and the rewards and consequences of appropriate an inappropriate behaviour. In this session, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird (Arikara) will share a series of short teaching stories of the relationship between the Arikara people and the animal world. The stories are intended to nurture participant’s understanding of the important connection between humans and animals and how renewing this tradition can help restore this relationship.