For the Anishinabe people the family is the center or the heart of life. It is the foundation to help us in understanding our relationship to our extended family, our clan, Band and Nation. The lesson below is designed to help in understanding some of the words used to identify family members.

Ojibwe Mother

In addition, our family was a vital part of our individual history. When asked "who are you." and "where do you come from", our answer is related to our family, clan, Band and Nation. Only then do we speak of our individual pursuits.

Please remember that there are many dialects of the Anishinaabeg/Ojibwe language. We are offering the lesson below to help in creating a basic understanding of the language. If the words are not familiar it may be due to the region in whichh you are living.