Ann Filemyr is here to talk about her path and twenty years serving as the oshkibewis or helper for the late Keewaydinoquay, an Anishinaabeg mashkikiwe (Ojibwe plant medicine woman).
Ann Filemyr, Ph.D., is the fourth President of Southwestern College following four and a half years as the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean. She also serves as the Director of the Ecotherapy Certificate.
Dr. Filemyr was the Academic Dean at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe prior to joining Southwestern College. Before that she was a Professor of Cultural & Interdisciplinary Studies, then Dean of Faculty and Vice President of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Her commitment to higher education is connected to her belief in the power of lifelong learning. Her own educational journey includes a Bachelor of Philosophy in the Creative & Performing Arts from Thomas Jefferson College in Michigan; a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Communications. Her educational path connects her passion for creative expression with a concern for healing ourselves and the Earth. She is motivated by her understanding that we must transform our own lives in order to address our concern for others and for the world we inhabit.
Ann spent twenty years serving as the oshkibewis or helper for the late Keewaydinoquay, an Anishinaabeg mashkikiwe (Ojibwe plant medicine woman). She served as Kee’s graduate teaching & research assistant at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and as her personal apprentice for two decades. She studied the Ojibwe language, cultural traditions, stories and ceremonies in the Midewiwin tradition of the northern Great Lakes. Ann continues to live and teach from this tradition.
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In the episode you’ll hear about:
-The strategic erasure of Native peoples
-The importance of reciprocity in our relationships with humans and the natural world
-How Ann met Grandmother Kee and worked with her
-Vision quest and the responsibility of your purpose
