ESCI1909: Manoomin (Wild Rice) and Its Environment

Manoomin (Ojibwe for wild rice) is Minnesota’s beloved state grain, and it plays a central role in both the diet and cultural identity of many Native peoples around the Great Lakes. Manoomin/wild rice is an aquatic grass that grows naturally in shallow lakes and streams, but unfortunately, due to its high sensitivity to various environmental stressors (e.g., perturbed water levels, contaminants, competitive and invasive species, and climate change), it has been experiencing progressive declines across the region. This has been alarming for Native and non-Native people for whom manoomin/wild rice holds special meaning. In this course, students will gain an interdisciplinary perspective on how multiple components of the environment, as well as people’s relationships and actions with it, together influence the health of manoomin/wild rice stands. Understanding what supports manoomin/wild rice requires a look at local lake to greater watershed-scale conditions; interacting ecological, hydrological, geochemical, and geological processes; and different environmental management approaches driven by diverse values. While manoomin/wild rice has served as a flashpoint between tribes and industries that impair their environment, we will learn how it can also become a rallying point for Indigenous knowledge-holders and conventional academic scientists to share different worldviews, for tribal and non-tribal policy-makers to collaboratively manage resources, and for all communities living around manooomin/wild rice waters to be better stewards of the whole environment.Students will learn a holistic approach to studying manoomin/wild rice and its environment through readings and exercises that span disciplines. They will also participate in community-engaged learning activities that integrate perspectives beyond conventional academic cultures that can deepen our understanding of the environment. There will also be a two-night field trip during the first weekend of the semester for students to experience first-hand manoomin/wild rice waters, traditional processing methods, and Ojibwe craft-making with elders from the White Earth Indian Reservation.

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