Billie Warren is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
Ariana Perez Diener is the author of this post. A senior Environmental and Marine Science major from Goshen, Indiana, Ariana reflects on our time with a member of the Pokagon Band Potawatomi while at Indiana Dunes:
On Tuesday morning our group had the privilege to hear from Billie Warren, a Potawatomi woman and speaker. We met in the auditorium of the National Park visitor center and were welcomed by a song by Ode’min Kwe Singers called the Humble Song. It is sung by Anishinaabe people and is a very catchy song. I immediately added it to one of my Spotify playlists!
Potawatomi artisan items
One of the main points that I got from Billie’s talk was that in indigenous economics the goal is to reach a balance. This is unlike the economics in the US where the goal is to gain as much capital as possible in the free market. Billie talked a lot about how when Potawatomi people make any decisions they always honor their ancestors seven generations back by giving thanks for everything that has been given to them. Then they consider seven generations forward and think about how their actions will affect the people that will come after them. This practice ties into the end goal of having a balance in the economic system.
Assembled outside the Indiana Dunes National Park Visitor Center with Billie Warren
Another thing that was very engaging was an activity that Billie had us partake in. We were all divided into groups of four and had to choose an animal to represent our clan and then discuss questions about what our animal could represent. My clan chose the goose to represent us. We had all experienced walking down the Goshen Millrace and being hissed at by the geese protecting their young, so we thought that our clan would be the people who take care of the children sort of like a nursery. We also thought about how geese help fertilize the ground and thought that we would be tenders of the gardens and help cycle nutrients through the food system. We also had to think about what would happen if there was an unbalance in the number of geese in the clan. If there were too many of us then there are too many nutrients in the soil, if there are too few of us then there is no one to teach and nurture our children. Part of the activity was to also go to other clans and try to help them guess what our clan animal was. This exercise really got us thinking about the balance of different parts in a system.
