Learning from Place: Bdote

4 May 2018
Students & Faculty on Bdote trip
Students & Faculty on Bdote trip

One early May morning, a group of Carleton students and faculty boarded a bus to Minneapolis, where they would experience Learning from Place: Bdote. The purpose of the Bdote experience is to help visitors connect to natural spaces and history in Minnesota from an indigenous perspective.

When the group arrived at their first stop, the Minnesota Humanities Center, they were greeted by their host, Eden, and their guides, Ramona, Ethan, and Mona. Eden, program officer for the Minnesota Humanities Center, started the day with introductions and an overview of the trip. Ramona, Ethan, and Mona, all historians and educators, introduced themselves in Dakota, effortlessly capturing the group’s attention. After exploring the Bdote Memory Map digitally for a short while, the group was ready to see the sights in person.

The first stop was where the Minnesota River meets the Mississippi River, a sacred location called Bdote, or “where two waters meet.” This spot, as described by Ethan, is central to the origin story of the Dakota people. It is considered to be the most special and significant place for Dakota history and spirituality, and is where human life comes and goes from this world. Above the river was a cave where Dakota midwives would help women give birth. In the same cave, bodies were washed and prepared for burial in one of the many burial mounds around the area.

Although there is much to admire and celebrate around Bdote, there is a long, painful history that must also be acknowledged. One of the most difficult sites to reckon with is Fort Snelling, a military base infamous for organizing the largest mass hanging of Native Americans in the United States. The group of Carls was brought to this place, and humbled by the weight of history.

Upon arrival, guide Ramona lit a small bundle of sage to cleanse the air and help bring clarity and focus to the conversation. Ramona and Mona then shared intense accounts of the relationship between colonizers and the Dakota people, which was unequal and violent by design. The guides spoke openly and honestly about the atrocities inflicted upon the Dakota people, and the long-lasting trauma of being tortured in and exiled from their own land. They asked visitors to reflect on the history of the space they occupied, to validate the experience of survivors, and to move forward with history on their minds.

Dakota culture lives on, however, and the Bdote leaders shared a piece of that culture with visitors during lunch. As part of the cultural experience, the Bdote group arranged for food prepared by the Sioux Chef, a culinary company that works entirely with indigenous ingredients such as corn, black beans, wild turkey, and local seeds and berries. The group enjoyed a nourishing meal accompanied by traditional oral history sharing and singing by a local Dakota storyteller.

The trip concluded with a visit to the location of the Seven Council Fires. The Seven Council Fires refers to a historic alliance between seven major Native American groups across the region, including branches of the Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota tribes. Leaders from these seven groups would convene at this spot, near the bdote of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, to maintain their partnerships. It was a fitting place to end the trip, and the group was left to consider the highly organized society that once occupied this land.

After participating in the Bdote experience, students were encouraged to prepare reflections about what they learned on the trip, specifically what challenged them. Faculty were also encouraged to practice reflection and to bring what they learned on this trip into their courses. This trip is one example of Carleton’s efforts to engage students with local communities, and to connect students to the land around them.