Online Absent Narrative Resources

The Minnesota Humanities Center is excited to offer resources that have been developed and created in partnership with community organizations from across the state. These resources have been carefully curated to help educators increase classroom engagement through the amplification of Absent Narratives. The Absent Narratives Resource Collection is a free, searchable database of over 1,000 resources, including ready-to-use videos, teacher guides, and readings.

The Minnesota Humanities Center is committed to helping people tell their stories. These stories, histories, and contributions are the Absent Narratives that are often left out of the mainstream story of Minnesota and many of its K-12 classrooms. Items included in the resource collection have been created or developed by the Humanities Center and its partners. These resources and many more can be found on The Absent Narratives Resource Collection at: humanitieslearning.org/resource

Resources include:

The Bdote Memory Map is a geography-based, digital media resource for Dakota people to express connections to traditional places and to help non-Native citizens see Minnesota from an indigenous point of view.

Somali Bilingual Folktales. Four books, each a traditional Somali folktale, created in collaboration with members of the Minnesota Somali community to ensure high-quality authentic resources that promote and preserve heritage languages and increase English literacy skills of refugee and immigrant families. The four titles, with accompanying reading guides, are available as PDF downloads and as print-on-demand books or  dual-language audio and video recordings. 

Prayers On the Prairie. In a partnership with the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, this documentary shows how Asian Minnesotans from five different religious traditions are able to thrive, practice, and live out their religions in Minnesota. 

Voices From the Latino Community. Five video projects—done in partnership with the Minnesota Latino Affairs Council—that show the contributions of Minnesota’s Latino community to the arts, culture, and  economy of Minnesota. 

Resource Assessment Tools. In seeking to embrace and include typically absent narratives into curriculum, public life, and daily practice, it can sometimes be difficult to discern what resources are appropriate and respectful to the stories that are being brought to light. 

Absent Narratives Resource Assessment Tool helps with the process of building relationships to stories and the people who tell them, with the aim of helping you create a ‘balance of stories’ and open up space for increased engagement.
 Selecting and Assessing American Indian Resources engages educators in a process of critical  reflection about how American Indians are represented and presented to students in classroom texts and resources. Use of the tool will help educators include American Indian stories and experiences in their classrooms authentically.