Indianz.Com > News > Ernestine Anunkasan Waste’: Identity molded and shaped by many factors

Weaving an identity
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Native Sun News Today Assistant Editor
When a person’s heritage originates from several different tribes and ethnicities, I often wonder how one decides to identify themselves.
In my case, I was born at the Indian Health Service Hospital on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on November 23, 1957, to Andrea Marie Rave and Sylvan Charles Brown. However, I spent most of my youth on the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Indian Reservations, although I am enrolled at Cheyenne River.
My Native American Heritage is linked to several tribal nations. My maternal grandfather, James “Jimmy” Rave, was Winnebago from Winnebago, Nebraska, and my maternal grandmother, Aurelia Mabel Dupree, was Mnicoujou from Cheyenne River.

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Contact Ernestine Anunkasan Was te’ at cahunpigiwin@gmail.com
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