Interview with Nicole O’Bomsawin. Wampum and Abenaki Culture Between Past and Present

• Published in: Gradhiva
• Main Authors: O’Bomsawin, Nicole, Fort, Clémence, Núñez-Regueiro, Paz, Stolle, Nikolaus, Varison, Leandro
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac 2022
• Subjects: abenaki; First Nations
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/gradhiva/6269

An anthropologist and museum curator by training, Nicole O’Bomsawin is originally from Odanak and a member of the Abenaki First Nation. Between 1986 and 2006, she was the Director of the Abenaki Museum, Quebec’s first Indigenous museum institution (est. 1965). She now teaches anthropology at the Kiuna Institution and works in partnership with the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) in Quebec on the implementation of new strategies to foster closer collaboration between public bodies, research institutions, and Indigenous communities. In addition, she is involved with the Kapakan Alliance, an organization that promotes working with elders and coordinates a large number of intergenerational events and gatherings. Also a storyteller, Nicole O’Bomsawin regularly takes part in storytelling festivals to introduce the oral culture of the First Nations to a wider audience. Her pioneering work at the Abenaki Museum in Odanak and her commitment to the preservation and transmission of Indigenous oral traditions and knowledge have made her a key figure of Quebec’s Indigenous museum and cultural community.