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Akaa Piikani Kiosk
THE AKAA PIIKANI MAPPING AND LANGUAGE KIOSK PROJECT
This project is the first of its kind in Siksikatsiitaipii, the Blackfoot People, comprised of Piikaniwa, Amsskapipiikani (South Piikani), Siksikawa, and Kainaiwa. The Kiosk will teach creation stories, the Blackfoot language and culture, and songs using the geographical mapping of the Siksikatsiitapiwa.
About the Kiosk
By Jerry Potts – Board of Directors,
Chair of Iron Shirt Culture and Heritage Society
In 2018 archaeologists Maria Nieves Zedeno and Francois Lanoe prepared a draft report titled “Archaeology and Toponymy of the Blackfoot Aboriginal Territory” where the authors compiled all of the known archaeological sites attributed to the Blackfoot people. This report shows with conclusive certainty the presence of Blackfoot people for many thousands of years; in what is now known as the province of Alberta, Canada. As far north as the North Saskatchewan River and as far south as the Yellowstone River in Montana, there are eons of material culture of the Blackfoot people in the archaeological record already discovered, with much more to come. The archaeological sites range from rock cairns, rock art (petroglyphs and pictographs), to burial sites, camp sites, sacred sites, and much more. From this compilation of sacred sites, a map of Blackfoot territory has been created in relation to the archaeological sites found. Many of the archaeological sites are sacred sites and are unforgotten places of significant spiritual and cultural importance to the Blackfoot people to this day.
Relationship to land and place in the universe is immeasurably important to the identity of a person. The First Nations Reserve system, the Residential Schools systems, and the 60’s scoop of Indigenous children had a common goal: to destroy entire cultures of Indigenous peoples from their homelands, from their families and culture, and to assimilate them into the greater “Canadian politic”. This long-term plan of assimilation is genocidal, in the strictest of terms. To some extent, these attempts at assimilation were successful, as there exists today a great many Blackfoot/Piikani people who are not only disconnected from their land, culture, language, and traditional teachings, but to the fundamental reality of how they are and where they come from. The intention of the Piikani Land Mapping and Language Kiosk Project is to take what knowledge we have as Blackfoot people and bring it into our schools for our Piikani students. The Blackfoot people were fortunately one of last First Nations people in North America to be colonized and which thankfully resulted in a large chunk of our Ceremonies and living memory of our knowledge to be preserved. It is important that this is passed on to our children.
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Request the Kiosk
We currently have three interactive kiosk installations that schools, groups, museums, exhibits, etc. can book to use at their location. To request a kiosk installation, please complete the form below. As these installations are very popular, please be sure to allow sufficient time. For faster access, we can also provide digital content for educational purposes upon request.
Thank you to our Funders
