HISTORY

The Minnesota Men’s Conference was started by Robert Bly in 1984. This was shortly after the interview between Keith Thompson and Robert Bly called “What do Men Really Want?” This first conference, as well as all the ones following have included the telling of old stories, the gifts of poetry, making music together and opening our hearts to grief, which sometimes appears when men who trust each other gather together for a few days.

This conference has been blessed with many fine teachers such as Etheridge Knight, James Hillman, Michael Meade, and Terry Dobson in the 1980’s. Aaron Kipnis, John Lee and Robert Moore joined us in the 1990’s. In 1993 with the addition of Malidoma Somé, Miguel Rivera, Haki Madhubuti and Martín Prechtel, the conference moved towards a richer diversity of thought and a deeper connection to our ancestors. In the last few years we have begun to ask that men who have been given the honey of the old stories and soul teaching give some of this sweetness back to younger men. So again we are inviting 30 young men between the ages of 13 and 20 to attend this years conference.

We are asking all the men to reach back toward young men-both the fathered and the fatherless—and to work out rituals and ways of communication in order to offer to the younger men what the culture as whole does not.

1984— WHAT DO MEN DANCE ABOUT?

1985— BRINGING BACK THE GOLD! MEN, FAILURE AND HARVEST

1986— MEN'S WORK IN WORLD: LEAVING THE FATHER'S HOUSE

1987— ANIMAL TRUTHS, IMAGINATION AND DANGER: ON THE TRACK OF MALE NATURE

1988— PASSION AND PURPOSE IN THE MALE PSYCHE

1989— DEVELOPING THE KING: INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

1990— MEN IN COMMUNITY: MEN IN RITUAL1992-MEN IN RELATIONSHIPS1993-THE HOSTILE BROTHER

1994— THE GENEROUS MOTHERS AND THE ANGRY MOTHERS: GIVING GIFTS TO BOTH

1995— SHIMMERING FLOWERS ON THE COMMUNITY TREE: GROWING INTO OUR ANCESTOR's FACES

1996— THE ADOLESCENT SOCIETY AND THE WAY MEN ARE

1997— Reaching Back to Younger Men

1998— Tracking Our Own Souls: Men in Nature and the Nature of Men

1999— Old Grandmother Growth: Men, boys and the Trickster

2000— Feasting the Mother Bear

2001— Who is the Friend of the Hidden One?

2002— What will Heal the Wounded King?

2003— The Dragon of Grandiosity

2004— The Souls Survival When Things Fall Apart

2005— Three Roots, Three Roads, Three Dances