Myaamia Foundation

The Miami Homelands Project
(Winter 2006)

The culture of the Miamis is intrinsically tied to their landscape by cultural traditions, lifeways and identity which is inextricably tied to ecological processes and resources.

The Miami People historically occupied a territory centered on the Wabash River Valley of north-central Indiana, but their homelands extend as far as the present-day states of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and lower Michigan and Wisconsin.

The Tribe’s homelands were quickly reduced from this enormous historic landbase to only a small reserve in northern Indiana by the mid 1800s. From this reserve, the Miami were forcibly removed in 1846, first to eastern Kansas, and finally to eastern Oklahoma where the federally recognized Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is located today.

Purchase of this particular piece of land would mark one of the first reestablishments of communally-owned lands in the ancestral Miami territory since 1846.

As part of a many-faceted effort to revitalize their language and culture, the Miami have for many years worked on extending and deepening their people’s understanding of the Miami language, and broadening the Tribe’s familiarity with their rich heritage.

Essential in the revitalization enterprise is the recovery of user-rights to ancestral lands, where the potential for community participation in traditional lifeways can be expanded. Thus, land acquisition in the original mid-western homeland territory is a vital goal for the Miami People.

Recently an opportunity has arisen that would allow the Miami to acquire farmland in the southwest area of Ohio (Butler County). The same family has farmed the land since the 1940s, but as is the case with so much of Ohio’s agricultural land today, the property is now regarded as a prime target for subdivision and residential development.

So what is the vision that the Tribe has for this very special piece of their historic homelands? Once acquired, this farm and its woodlots will be systematically restored to a condition that will allow the Miami to engage in traditional agricultural and ecological practices, and to nurture the re-establishment of native flora and fauna. Studies in ethnobotany now underway are identifying the Miami’s uses of plants indigenous to this area, and revealing how traditional Miami lifeways provide benefits to the land.

The research and educational opportunities afforded by this property will constitute a unique and invaluable asset for the Miami people far into the future.

As a result, it will be possible to continue traditional agricultural practices on communal lands. For example, the cultivation of Miami White Corn, a variety of eight-row corn unique to the Miami will be possible on this land. There is also potential for a small-scale commercial enterprise. Further plans call for the study and reproduction of traditional Miami food-ways.

The area will be used as a laboratory for future studies and applications that evolve from these original projects. And finally, a portion of the land will be used to build a long-house that can serve as a headquarters for the manager of the property and as an educational-research facility for the use of scholars and tribal members.

This opportunity could not come at a better time, nor could it be located in a more ideal setting. Historically this is land where the Miami lived, encompassing the same forest, meadow, and riparian ecosystems that are ancestral to Miami culture.

Purchase of this particular piece of land would mark one of the first reestablishments of communally-owned lands in the ancestral Miami territory since 1846. In addition, it is located within a few miles of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where the Myaamia Project —the national center for research on Miami language and culture— is located.

The historic and contemporary ties of this landscape to the Miami people make this area an ideal place for continued studies of Miami culture,and the support of Miami University ensures the success of these studies.

The Myaamia Project research includes production of detailed, computer-based(GIS) maps of the mid-western Miami homelands, studies of Miami place names and land use patterns, ecological experiments on traditional food plants of the Miami, language revitalization and educational applications of this research.

Acquisition of this rural land would deepen and diversify the current Project research agenda and ensure that these studies could be continued in the long-term with Miami community participation. The research and educational opportunities afforded by this property will constitute a unique and invaluable asset for the Miami people far into the future.