biskaabiiyaang: the indigenous metaverse
Delivering Anishinaabe language and First Nation cultural competency programs.
what is the indigenous metaverse?
Imagine a world where Anishinaabe culture thrives, where anyone can go on adventures or sit by the fire and listen to the Elder’s teachings. A world where even the trees, plants, fish, and birds all have something to teach through quests, stories, and the language itself. Imagine a place where you can connect with others and learn how to be well in the world. Welcome to Biskaabiiyaang.
By fusing virtual metaverse technologies and traditional Anishinaabe storytelling practices, Biskaabiiyaang provides inclusive, sustainable, high-quality intercultural learning materials produced by and in support of Indigenous Peoples.
what does biskaabiiyaang mean?
Biskaabiiyaang (sometimes spelled biskaabiiyang) describes the experience of having been on a long journey, then reaching the point of returning home. It is an Anishinaabe word for cultural resurgence, for resisting colonial violence, and for reclaiming our ways of being Anishinaabe through contemporary practices.
Biskaabiiyaang adheres to The First Nations Principles of Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession – more commonly known as OCAP®.
Learn more.
become a sweetgrass warrior
A NEW BISKAABIIYAANG JOURNEY…
In Anishinaabe teachings, Kindness comes first. Kindness is all around us: the sacrifices made by those beings that give us sustenance, waters that give us life, our Clans that gift us with our life's purpose, rites of passage that raise us through each stage of life, traditional ways of teaching and learning, and how we structure our understanding of community.
Sweetgrass—a fragrant grass found primarily in North America—is a Kindness medicine. Biskaabiiyaang has created an online activity that transforms one Indigenous teaching about the power of Sweetgrass into a card game. It is also being developed into an in-world “currency” of Kindness that will be used to progress through our virtual world.
The Sweetgrass Cards are free to play and each kind word is translated into Anishinaabemowin complete with audio.
Start your journey today at SweetgrassTeachings.com
Milestones: A Review of Biskaabiiyaang’s 2023 Journey
Welcome to our first year in review blog! As we bid farewell to 2023, it's with immense pride and gratitude that we reflect on Biskaabiiyaang’s journey over the past twelve months.
Biskaabiiyaang Joins Groundbreaking York University Research Project, Connected Minds
Biskaabiiyaang is pleased to announce its collaboration with “Connected Minds: Neural and Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society”, a groundbreaking interdisciplinary research program led by York University and the largest in the university’s history.
our latest blogs
At the UN World Summit on the Information Society Forum, Biskaabiiyaang had the privilege of sharing our project’s insights and experiences while constructing an Indigenous-led metaverse. Our session was a welcoming environment of collaboration and understanding that explored the potential for a truly inclusive metaverse.
On the occasion of Anishinaabe Giizhigad (Anishinaabe Day), we have the great pleasure to announce the release of the Biskaabiiyaang demo. From the moment you enter the demo, you'll be greeted by breath-taking natural landscapes, vibrant recreations of Anishinaabe imagery, and be introduced to the storyline.
Our mission is to create an online space where Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples can experience an Indigenized curriculum and learn Anishinaabemowin (the Ojibwe language) together.
Anishinaabemowin is the language of the Anishinaabeg, a large group of Indigenous people (including Ojibway, Chippewa, Ojibwe, Saulteaux, Algonquin, Naakowe, Odishwaagaamii’ininiwag, Odaawa, Boodiwaadomi, and Amikwaa) whose territories span across Canada in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and in the USA from North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan to Oklahoma.
Using quests, virtual activities and learning games, we aim to help increase the number of second-language speakers over the next decade.
Biskaabiiyaang is an Indigenous-led project partnered with the Nokiiwin Tribal Council, York University, and metaverse buildes UniVirtual. Contributors include Anishinaabe Elders, the Indigenous Youth Council, and students from Glendon College, York University. Learn about our communities.
Our metaverse began as a card-based roleplaying game created by Prof. Maya Chacaby to teach Anishinaabemowin in the classroom. Following the game’s success, Prof. Chacaby wanted everyone to be able to access gamified, social language learning. Learn about the project’s origins.
2022 marks the inaugural year of the UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL.) The IDIL aims to prioritize the empowerment of Indigenous language users and help languages on the verge of extinction survive.
We believe the first step to preserving a language is understanding how it came to be endangered in the first place. Therefore, as part of the IDIL, Biskaabiiyaang will highlight and share Indigenous history, culture, and knowledge with the world, helping to ensure the traditional wisdom of Indigenous Peoples is not lost.
A sacred fire burns at the centre of the Anishinaabe community. This fire represents what it means to be Indigenous — how we behave, how we learn, how we share our knowledge. To nurture this fire, we all must act now: Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples must learn from our past to ensure it is not repeated.
focus areas
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cultural history
To achieve Anishinaabe resurgence, Biskaabiiyaang shares Indigenous knowledge and cultural histories, because in order to move forward, we must learn about and understand the past.
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language learning
Once we understand the importance of Indigenous cultural history, we can move towards reclaiming our worldviews through Indigenous languages.
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health & wellbeing
Indigenous healing and wellness is wholistic. Our virtual environments allow you to discover how to learn from the land, understand cyclical interdependence, and your temporal / spatial position in the world.
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indigenous storytelling practices
Biskaabiiyaang transmits Indigenous knowledge and worldviews through storytelling, active oral and visual teachings, and quests involving legends.
the biskaabiiyaang metaverse safeguards, revitalizes, and respects indigenous knowledge. through systems of digital empowerment, first nation elders and community members contribute their expertise to create a living, growing archive of indigenous cultural heritage.
try the biskaabiiyaang demo today!
try the biskaabiiyaang demo today!
Our demo will help you get to grips with traversing Biskaabiiyaang’s terrain and discovering cultural objects and their history, all while learning Anishinaabemowin along the way. Explore post-apocalyptic ruins and learn how Indigenous Knowledge plays a part in returning magic and beauty to this virtual world.
"In the time of the Seventh Fire a New People will emerge.
They will retrace their steps to find what was left by the trail.”
— Benton-Benai, The Mishomis