Wondrous Women—Wonder Wedneday
It's WONDER Wednesday!
This weeks WONDER Wednesday wraps up our annual series on WONDROUS WOMEN. We've been celebrating Women’s History Month with a nod to local women in the past and present who have helped shape our community.
This week’s WONDROUS WOMAN is Jordan Shananaquet. Hearing Jordan tell the story of her journey back to Northern Michigan, you know she was meant to be here. And our community is all the better for her contributions. Her path has not been linear, but full of heart, connection and dedication to place and people.
THE SCHOLAR
Jordan grew up in North Carolina, largely cut off from the Odawa roots on her father's side. But she was always drawn to studying cultural legacies around the world through history and anthropology. At North Carolina State, she pursued a degree in archaeology, spending two summers as a visiting researcher and four summers on Roman archaeological digs in Jordan. But over time, she grew more and more uncomfortable with the way these digs were conducted. She began to recognize that the present-day Indigenous people of the region were being cut out of the process–much like the Indigenous peoples of North America–and she could abide it no longer. Now adrift from her chosen field of study, she found herself at a crossroads. And around this time, she began to feel a "tug to know more" about the Indigenous side of her family.
THE HOMECOMING
Jordan had visited Northern Michigan just once in her early twenties but "the place, space, smells and people" made a deep impression on her. And it was a place she knew through the stories of her Odawa grandmother, who passed away in 2010, leaving Jordan with a yearning to know more about her roots. When a job in the department of Repatriation, Archives and Records came up at Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in 2017, she jumped at the chance to relocate to the land of her father's people. Jordan talks about this moment as the decision to "come home." And she has never looked back. Today, she lives not far from the ancestral territory of the Burt Lake Band, where her family endured the trauma of the Burt Lake Burnout in October 1900. Jordan's family, among others, were burned out of their homes on the west side of Burt Lake to make way for the summer homes of wealthy white resorters. Being in such proximity to this place is both powerful and healing.
THE WORK
In 2019, Jordan moved into the position of LTBB Education Director and, at just 28 years-old, she's already accomplished a lot in her short tenure. "It's my greatest honor to serve my nation in this way." And serve she does. Her enthusiasm for the department's many projects is infectious. She oversees preK-12 Education to Post-Secondary Education, Workforce Development, Library Services, as well as Cultural Services. And she's very proud of a new grant that will allow LTBB to collaborate on an adaptable framework for Indigenous field-based science education in a summer camp setting. The project has wonderful implications for Indigenous youth– and youth everywhere. As Jordan says, "We spend two thirds of our time at work. I want to do something I love and that fills me with passion." And her passion is making a difference in more ways than one!
Check out this short video made by Jordan which tells the story of her homecoming in her own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?