Absent Narrative Videos

Minnesota is home to many rich, complimentary, and sometimes contradictory narratives. All these accounts attempt to make meaning of this place, its residents, and its histories. The narratives on this page are intended to expand your knowledge, understanding, and empathy for the people who live here. Challenge yourself with these narratives.
Listen to Latino, Hmong, Ojibwe and Dakota authors discuss their influences and lived experiences. Authors share their ideas about the writing process and read from selected pieces of their work. See how Asian Minnesotans from five differing religious traditions are able to thrive, practice, and live out their religious tenets in Minnesota.
 
Watch these six interviews to learn more clearly the meaning and significance of what it means to be a true Minnesotan first! Minnesota American Indian Treaties programming is a real and important Absent Narrative about this state's formation and in whose stories lie the foundation of indigenous issues still alive today.
Allies:Media Art created a documentary that was presented as part of a Museum on Main Street exhibit. It explores an American Indian relationship to land, borders, and boundaries. Dakota and Ojibwe people record stories of how statehood affected their homes, their families, their future. These stories are painfully absent from traditional histories of Minnesota textbooks.
 
(Formerly Video of the Week) Come listen as people from different backgrounds share their experiences. Then reflect or start a conversation using the questions provided. Emmy Award Winner for Best Cultural Documentary! Produced by tpt and the Minnesota Humanities Center.
View five related video projects that convey the contributions of Minnesota’s Latino community to the arts, culture, and economy of Minnesota. Somali folk tales are transformed into visual experiences
as the books are read aloud accompanied by the original artwork.