There were important themes within the keynotes from last month’s 2025 Seven Generation Inter-Tribal Leadership Summit. Whether intended or not, they collectively reminded me of something rhetoric scholar Kenneth Burke wrote about what is referred to as the “unending conversation.”
Hosted by Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University, College of Menominee Nation, and the Universities of Wisconsin, the event was held on the LCOOU campus with a theme of “Everything is connected to the water, and the water is what connects us all.” Speaker after speaker referenced the role of dialogue to advance the important ways in which a tribally-centered education supports Native people.
Each speaker added to the conversation, and collectively, they presented a message that echoed the metaphor Burke used to inspire new scholars to add to academic discourse in 1941. Burke asserted one should imagine a gathering where people are speaking about a topic you hope to join.
“Imagine that you enter a parlor,” Burke wrote. “You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about.”
Burke then explained that once confident, new scholars should join the conversation.
Referring to the steady movement of water, Burke wrote: “You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is interminable.”
Discussion was at the heart of the Seven Generation Summit. In this age of technical advances, CMN President Christopher Caldwell spoke about the need for people putting their own emblematic oar into the water rather than relying on Generative Artificial Intelligence.
“This conference is our chance to build on relationships, face to face, and create a better future using what I call ‘old school ChatGPT,’” Caldwell said.
Caldwell noted that while there is a “devaluing of higher education by society, I am reminded of the Seven Generations model. It honors not just the present, but the past and the future.”
In that vein, Caldwell looked upon the collective and shared the sentiments of the recently departed chair of the Indian Gaming Association, Ernie “Big Cat” Stevens Jr. Caldwell stated that at CMN’s May 2025 commencement, Stevens told the graduates, “Your success today fills my heart with encouragement. I am inspired to stand before you because you strengthen me, you strengthen us, and you strengthen Indian Country overall.”
When it was her turn at the podium, LCOOU interim President Karen Breit echoed Caldwell’s way of thinking.
“Miigwech (Thank you) to those who carry knowledge of our language, culture and history, as that’s the heart of who we are,” Breit said. “The hope for today is in our young people and those who teach that knowledge. That is our future.”
Breit continued speaking about both the role her school and CMN play in healing generational wounds.
“It was a good thing to create a place of higher education for us by us,” Breit said. “To create a place not just to be career ready, but a place for adult learners to come to reconnect with what we’ve been separated from. This is a place for reconnection and that is really beautiful.”
Throughout the three-day gathering, the power of reconnective conversations was evident in presentations that fell under the umbrella categories of education, economic development, the environment and “make and take” craft sessions. In every room, the role of water was highlighted as an invaluable force that will carry life into the future.
This is not to say that only calm waters lie ahead. In his keynote presentation, former President of the Chief Little Priest College Maunka Morgan spoke about the need for Native people to ask themselves if their tribal constitutions read like a strategic plan or if they needed to be amended. Morgan looked to the students in the crowd as the ones to make the needed changes in the not-so-distant future.
“College students are leaders-in-training,” he said.
Burke’s conclusion to his “unending conversation” metaphor also seemed apt as the assembled left LCOOU at the summit’s conclusion.
Burke wrote, “The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.”
The conversations at the Seven Generation Inter-Tribal Leadership Summit will continue, as CMN hosts the 2026 convening in October. Unending conversations are unending, because their topics are vitally important.
Ryan Winn, Ph.D., teaches communications, English, history and theater at the College of Menominee Nation. Visit www.menominee.edu for more information about the school.
