Anishinaabe change maker - Term Paper Example

Anishinaabe Change Maker-Winona LaDuke In layman terms, Anishinaabe de s the composition of Odawa, Ojibwa as well as Algonquin nations often perceived as ‘smaller’ in comparison with other cultures (Tyson and KaaVonia 55). Despite being lowery perceived, on a traditional viewpoint Anishinaabe were good people with a meaning and a moral obligation. This paper reviews the contribution of Winona LaDuke, an Ojibwa, who as an author, economist and an environmentalist endeavored to bring a change in preservation of tribal lands as well as seeing sustainable development as a practice was observed.

Much has been borrowed from her scholarly work as well as joint writing that reflect on her early life and personal contributions as an author and as a visionary politician.To bring or promote an acceptable positive change is a tasking accomplishment and contributions of Winona LaDuke cannot go unrecognized. She was brought up on a time when there was massive loss of land from her community a time in history when Ojibwa were reduced to inhabit reserves, which they only controlled about 10% of the land (Silverstone 91).

The main factor influencing the need for a change was the immediate impacts related to land loss including unemployment and social problems such as poverty as well as the charge from her father who was an established activist on treaty rights and tribal issues (LaDuke 75). There was a dire need to re-establish the fading standards within the community and to ensure that they did not remain victims of land loss at any particular time.Winona LaDuke engagement in advanced studies and politics also influenced her role in championing for a change since this was the high time that she integrated with people social lives and learnt about their needs and existing community gaps.

For instance, while undertaking her masters in community economic development LaDuke moved to White Earth where she was highly involved in local activities, which compounded her charge to engage in local tribal issues, and struggled to recover lands for Anishinaabe by practically all means possible (LaDuke 85). Her achievements are mainly embedded on the observable results and being an integral team player in instituting organizations which their central role was fighting for the well being of the marginalized or disadvantaged.

As an activist LaDuke was an elemental team player in establishing and sustaining the Indigenous Women Network (1985), a center for affirmative action and social development that publicized forced sterilization and in turn activated a change for the Native American women (Huang 102). Similarly, she was an active team player in restoring lost lands and successfully transformed the living conditions for the Anishinaabe. Just to note many treaties that existed hitherto curtailed the Native Americans to access the rich American resources and much of the Acts adopted models that made the minor tribes to lose most of its land.

In response to that, LaDuke was resourceful in instituting the White Earth Land Recovery Project which primary objective was buying back land within the reserves and to ensure that it was legally conserved for the continual cession to the Anishinaabe (56). In addition, the program was also focused on land rehabilitation particularly through reforestation in order to revive cultivation of indigenous crops.Due to her distinguished contribution to society’s positive change LaDuke managed to collect an array of honors and has established a legacy that will remain engraved in the memories of Anishinaabe generations.

She has written various books including Last Standing Woman of 1997, and appeared in documentaries such as the Anthem film for her exemplary work as a champion for positive social change (Huang 104). In addition to the honors, LaDuke won the Reebok Human Rights Award and has left a legacy to be among the distinguished category to be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame a respect she achieved in 2007.Works Cited Huang, Hsinya. Catastrophe, Memory, and Testimony in Winona LaDukes Last Standing Woman.

Creativity in Exile, 1: 89-106.LaDuke, Winona. Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming. Saint Paul, Minn: South End Press, 2005. Print.Silverstone, Michael. Winona Laduke: Restoring Land and Culture in Native America. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2001. Print.Tyson, Cynthia. A., & Hinton-Johnson KaaVonia. Once Upon a Time: Teaching about Women and Social Justice through Literature. (Women of the World). Social Education, 67.1: 54-57.