Archaeology and Wild Rice at the Whitehouse Nature Center

Brad Chase, Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, Albion College

Tuesdays, 2 – 4 p.m. October 1, 8, 22, 29. In person. Class size unlimited.

Recently, Albion College has partnered with the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office and Environmental Department on a collaborative research and outreach project centered on manoomin (wild rice), a sacred plant deeply entwined with Anishinaabe history and culture, with a particular focus on the manoomin beds and ancestral archaeological site at the Whitehouse Nature Center. In this class, you will learn about precolonial Indigenous histories as known through archaeology as well as more recent histories of Potawatomi and other Anishinaabe communities in Michigan. It will include a site visit to the ancestral archaeological site at the Whitehouse Nature Center.

Recommended, but not required, supplemental reading: Barton, Barbara J. 2018. Manoomin: The Story of Wild Rice in Michigan. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.