Interview with Jeremy Lien

Interview Transcript 

Jeremy Lien 

Interviewed by Audra O’Sidhe

2/27/2018

[Edited for brevity]

 

 

Audra: Thank you for allowing me to conduct this interview, and for taking the time to participate in this. The purpose of this interview is to provide an insight to Ojibwe Coming of Age Traditions though your first person account. I will be asking questions relating to Ojibwe traditions, and I also may ask questions that hit some sensitive topics like race, gender, and sexuality. These questions will be open-ended and you can choose not to answer them if you are not comfortable. Also, do I have your permission to record this interview?  If not, that is fine and I will just take written notes.  

 

Jeremy:  Ok, you have my permission

 

Audra: Ok, so. How old are you, and what tribe and band are you a part of? 

 

Jeremy: I am 20. I’m from the Boise Forte Band of the Ojibwe Tribe. 

 

Audra: And what coming of age traditions are you aware of?

 

Jeremy: None of them, other than the naming.

 

Audra: So you haven’t been a part of any of the other coming of age traditions?

 

Jeremy: No I haven’t participated in any of them.

 

Audra: Tell me more about the naming ceremony tradition. 

 

Jeremy : I was told by an elder that if I wanted to receive a tribal name I would need to find a name giver, get to know them, and then offer them a gift and tobacco and ask them for help finding your name. If they agree and accept your gift, you wait until the name comes to the name giver in a dream. It could take weeks or months. But then they get a hold of you. The next part is you sit down with your family and him and prepare a meal, and at the end of the meal you bestow the gift you made. I chose to make a pipe, kind of like a peace pipe, but I am not a pipe maker. It takes a lot of time and precision, and that is what makes it a good gift. 

 

Audra: You can choose to give anything but you chose a pipe?

 

Jeremy: Yes, I could give anything that is of significance, but I felt I could create a pipe well. Sometimes people give each other eagle feathers because they are sacred. 

 

Audra: How long have you been working on it?

 

Jeremy: I started it 2 summers ago. If I worked on it a lot it would only take a month, but it’s two years later and I haven’t finished it. 

 

Audra: When are you eligible to do the naming ceremony?

 

Jeremy: You can do it anytime in your life. There is not a certain age you have to be. The way I am doing it, this is how adults receive their name. A lot of times, for children, that’s where you get the other kind of ceremony.  For example, at Itasca Community College Larry, who is the Native American studies teacher, he would take kids in big groups and he would say their names. Because Larry was a name giver.

 

Audra: So there’s a different iteration of it for children? 

 

Jeremy: Possibly, I don't know much about it. I didn't know about getting a name until 2 years ago. I know people who have named themselves and they are looked down upon for doing that. Like, my friend, her parents gave her an Anishinaabe name at birth.

 

Audra: So that’s not well received, that they did that?

 

Jeremy: Well that’s a little different, because her parents did that. 

 

Audra: So it's just, if you give one to yourself, that's not-

 

Jeremy: Yeah, that’s selfish. Other people can give you a better idea of what you are really like. Because you judge yourself a certain way that isn't necessarily true. Your name reflects who you are and by letting another person judge that is respectful instead of saying, well this is how I am. 

 

Audra: So has anyone else you know done this already?

 

Jeremy: I don't know anyone who has gone through the process how I have done it. I know people with tribal names but not anyone who has done the ceremony. 

 

Audra: Yeah, I was going to say, I definitely have seen people from our high school class with Anishinaabe names in like, their facebook page. But they haven’t gone through this then?

 

Jeremy: Yeah I think people want to like, flaunt their native-ness to make them unique or something? Like they give themselves a name trying to be special. I don’t know what it's about but it doesn’t surprise me. But the way I am doing it, that's the respectful way to do it. 

 

Audra: So not many younger people do this then? 

 

Jeremy: Yeah it appears not. My personal situation is I was cut off from my culture for a good part of my life, because the way my mom and grandpa believed the way people practice things on the reservation isn’t the right way to practice the culture. But that’s the reason I don’t know much about anything. The negative things about the reservation are intertwined with the culture, so my mom kept me away from that. I realized too that the things that are done sometimes are just for getting money or personal gain rather than it actually being the culture. I know not every reservation is like that. But it could be that a lot of young people aren't doing that the way that they should be because of that.

 

Audra: So basically, people aren’t following through with the tradition in the way that they are supposed to?

 

Jeremy: For a lack of a better term, they half-ass the ceremonies and things. 

 

Audra: Who is your name giver?

 

Jeremy: I don’t have one yet. I can finish my gift and everything, but I don’t have anyone to continue the process with yet.

 

Audra: How do you find your name giver? 

 

Jeremy: I will have to go to where there are Ojibwe and ask around for a name giver.

 

Audra : You don't have to go to a name giver in your own band?

 

Jeremy: Anyone can go to a name giver. White people black people whatever you are. You should follow the ceremony and respect the culture

 

Audra: So it isn't just for people within your tribe, it can be for anyone should they chose to do it?

 

Jeremy: Right. Anyone that would appreciate the culture. 

 

Audra: So how do you become a name giver?

 

Jeremy: I actually have no idea and I never thought to ask. I don’t know if its inheritable, I have no idea. 

 

Audra: How many name givers are there? Are they common?

 

Jeremy: In my experience, kind of uncommon. I know of like 5, probably. There are probably more I don’t know about though. 

 

Audra: Is there anything you’d like to add? How do you feel about receiving a name?

 

Jeremy: It’s definitely something I want to do, it's hard to put into words, it will be a really fulfilling thing to do. Knowing I am practicing my culture the way it should be. There are a lot of people who just don’t do that. And if nobody does it it gets lost. Just like, I know it's extremely difficult to learn the Ojibwe language, but I definitely think that’s an important thing for people to do, and that’s another goal that I have. To do it just to preserve it. 

 

Audra: Do your parents or your brother have an Ojibwe name? Did they do the ceremony at all?

 

Jeremy: I am not sure about my brother, he is much more knowledgeable about the culture than I am, so I want to say he does. My mom was given one, actually my mom and I were both given one. I very faintly remember, I was given one at birth by my maternal grandmother, but my mother thought she was evil so she let that name be forgotten. My mother was given one by a name giver she knew, and she let that one be forgotten too, because she felt like the name giver she had wasn’t practicing our culture in a corrupt way. So she let herself forget it.

 

Audra: So people can be seen as a fake name giver?

 

Jeremy: Yes absolutely, just like you get fake medicine men and people who go to pow wows just to cell candy. It's that same vein of thinking. There are people who definitely are just not real. 

 

Audra: So last question, what kind of names can you get? Can you give some examples?

 

Jeremy: I don’t know the Anishinaabe term, but there’s a guy named Kneecap, and there’s a guy whose name is Comes Home Hollering. I have a friend whose name is Thunderhorse. 

 

Audra: So it doesn’t have to be any particular thing?

 

Jeremy: No it can be an idea, a thing, a place.

 

Audra: So do you have any thoughts or ideas on what yours might be? Any kind of feeling about it?

 

Jeremy: No idea. Because that falls in line of, I don't think I should have a great idea of who I am. I should have no right to try and encompass who I am. 

 

Audra: Do you hope that you will get a sense of identity through the name? 

 

Jeremy: Well, not specifically, I think it will happen secondarily but I think it will just be really cool to find out what my name is. But I am sure I will take some sort of feeling like that away from it.