Abenaki
Anne Jennison, is a traditional Northeast Native American storyteller of European and Abenaki heritage, who has been a Bahá’í for 40 years. Anne holds Masters’ degrees in both History and Storytelling. She is listed on the New Hampshire State Council on the Art's Traditional Artists Roster as an Indigenous storyteller and traditional Abenaki craftsperson (www.annejennison.com). Anne believes her worldview and her “voice” as a storyteller have been shaped by the content of the traditional lesson stories that she has internalized through telling them for more than 30 years. Recently, Anne has taken her interests in sustainability and her concerns about climate change to her involvement as a member of the working group that developed two of the presentations for the 2020-2021 Saul O. Sidore Lecture Series sponsored by the Center for Humanities at the University of New Hampshire, “Honoring the Mother of All People: Contemporary Indigenous Leadership in Revitalizing Environmental and Cultural Sustainability.” Anne was also a featured speaker and storyteller for two of these presentations, “Contemporary Native Peoples of New Hampshire” (11-23-20) and “The Power of Storytelling in Indigenous Ways of Knowing” (with co-presenter storyteller Louise Profeit-LeBlanc 4-22-21). Currently, Anne has developed a storytelling workshop presentation, “Moving From STEM to STEAM – Using the Art of Storytelling in Science Communication to Breathe Life into Your Research Narrative” for those in the sciences, particularly those interested in working in sustainability and climate change projects. Additionally, Anne is a co-creator of – and the museum interpreter for – the “People of the Dawnland” exhibit (about the Abenaki/Wabanaki peoples) at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH, and is a member of the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective (indigenousnh.com), an affiliate faculty member for the University of New Hampshire's Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Minor, and is also currently serving on the NH Commission on Native American Affairs.
