MSU hosts planetarium to discuss indigenous star beliefs

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) -A chance to recontextualize the familiar, MSU Mankato hosted a traveling planetarium Friday to teach about interpretations of the night sky that come from local indigenous cultures.

“This could be the inspiration for some kids to go on into a lifelong interest and even a career in STEM, in physics, in astronomy,” said the Bell Museum’s Hugh Gabriel.

The Bell Museum calls the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus home, but their planetarium stays on the road, offering students and others of all ages an experience that they hope will kickstart passions.

This presentation offered something different: the familiar stars and planets as seen through indigenous cultures.

Teaching about the Ojibwe language and interpretation of constellations, it was organized by MSU’s American Indigenous Studies program as part of the school’s broader Earth Month programming.

“This can be one of those experiences that can really light a spark and it’s really important to us to provide that to as many people as possible in all corners of the state,” Gabriel said.

That programming will take students to Jeffers Petroglyphs to discuss the Dakota people’s relationship with the stars.

Leaders in the program said that framing the night sky through the lens of our local indigenous populations provides a window into those cultures themselves.

“It just broadens our understanding that the world is much more complex than we may initially know or have been taught. And so it’s a great opportunity to connect to the local knowledge that has been here for millennia and continues to be here,” said Chelsea Mead, an Indigenous Studies professor at MSU.

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