American Indian Elder Wisdom Heritage Project

A Memnosyne Foundation Initiative

This Memnosyne Foundation educational and cultural preservation project is in collaboration with the Indigenous Institute of the Americas and participating tribes. The goal of the project is to preserve tribal cultural heritage in its many forms by providing hand-held video recorders on loan to Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma tribes for tribal youth to interview their elders about their native culture.

Select video interviews will be presented via the an Internet portal. Within this portal will be a varied collection of interviews covering a wide range of topics: History, Language & Customs, Indigenous Medicine, Environmental Knowledge, Music and Crafts, Spirituality, Philosophy, and Indigenous concerns. It also serves to fill the void of historical inaccuracies and to dispose of inaccurate myths and folklore

Project Objectives

 Assimilate information on:

o History, Language & Customs

o Indigenous Medicine

o Environmental Knowledge

o Music

o Spirituality - Philosophy

o Tribal and National Indigenous Concerns

 Correct historical inaccuracies; dispose of inaccurate myths and folklore

 Engage Indian youth in an educational cultural project

 Create a sense of cultural pride in Indian Youth

 Establish new and respectful relationships between youth and elders

 Inspire a renewed sense of awareness, respect and relationship with Nature

 Provide the general public with insightful cultural tribal knowledge

All videos will be the property of their respective tribes for educational purposes only and reproduction is respectfully not allowed.

Indigenous Institute of the Americas

The purpose of the Indigenous Institute of the Americas is to promote and share the similarities and difference comprising the traditional cultures of indigenous people of the Americas by researching, collecting, archiving and disseminating our history prior to and since 1492.

www.indigenousinstitueamericas.org