Academic literature on the topic 'Anishinaabe Elders'

Indigenous research paradigms are congruent to Indigenous worldviews and have become more dominant in areas such as Indigenous policy and education. As Indigenous research paradigms continue to gain momentum, the historical legacy of unethical research is addressed as more Indigenous communities and organizations develop their own research protocols. There is a plethora of articles explaining Indigenous research methodologies, but few examine the inclusion of the knowledge from Elders, language speakers, and Indigenous women in sustainable water governance. My Indigenous research methodology draws on the works of Indigenous scholars Shawn Wilson, Linda Smith, and Margaret Kovach, with specific focus on Wendy Geniusz’s Biskaabiiyang. My Indigenous research methodology is specific to the Anishinaabe territory of the Great Lakes region and includes Anishinaabek Elders, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway language) speakers, and Anishinaabek women. This article seeks to contribute to Indigenous research paradigms and methods by elucidating the importance of engaging Anishinaabek Elders, Anishinaabemowin speakers, and Anishinaabek women in sustainable water governance.

<p>In the Anishinaabemowen lagnuage, <em>Gimiigiwemin</em> is a concept that means, “we are exchanging gifts.” In the context of research, Indigenous communities often share their gifts with researchers by exposing them to local ways of knowing. Researchers can engage in exchanging gifts through sharing their skills and working towards producing research that meets community needs, such as supporting efforts to maintain health-sustaining relationships with traditional lands. <em>Environmental repossession</em> refers to the social, cultural, and political processes through which Indigenous Peoples are building resilience and reclaiming their traditional lands and ways of life. These processes are important because the health, ways of living, and knowledge systems of Indigenous Peoples all depend on access to traditional lands. This paper presents the results of a community-based participatory research study conducted in collaboration with Elders (<em>n </em>= 46) from two Anishinaabe communities on the north shore of Lake Superior (Ontario, Canada). This research employed locally relevant forms of integrated knowledge translation as a means of exchanging the gift of knowledge amongst all involved. This process culminated in a 2-day celebration wherein talking circles were used to explore Elders’ ideas about potential strategies for environmental repossession in their communities. Results from the talking circles pointed to four main strategies: (1) re-establishing the relationship between Elders and youth, (2) increasing time spent on traditional lands, (3) improving physical health, and (4) fostering community pride. This research emphasizes the strength of adopting culturally appropriate approaches to knowledge translation within studies aimed at supporting community aspirations of environmental repossession. </p>

Introduction Aging Technologies for Indigenous Communities in Ontario (ATICON) explores the technology needs of Anishinaabe older adults in the Manitoulin region of Northern Ontario. Our program of research addresses inequitable access to supportive technologies that may allow Indigenous older adults to successfully age in place. Methods Using Indigenous research methodologies (IRM) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) we explored the acceptability of CareBand - a wearable location and activity monitoring device for people living with dementia using a LoRaWAN, a low-power wide-area network technology. We conducted key informant consultations and focus groups with Anishinaabe Elders, formal and informal caregivers, and health care providers (n = 29) in four geographically distinct regions. Results Overall, participants agreed that CareBand would improve caregivers’ peace of mind. Our results suggest refinement of the technology is necessary to address the challenges of the rural geography and winter weather; to reconsider aesthetics; address privacy and access; and to consider the unique characteristics of Anishinaabe culture and reserve life. Conclusion All three partners in this research, including the Indigenous communities, industry partner, and academic researchers, benefited from the use of CBPR and IRM. As CareBand is further developed, community input will be crucial for shaping a useful and valued device.

This paper is based on the unique learning that the author obtained from various Cree and Anishinaabe Elders regarding Indigenous knowledge. The author’s experience with learning about Indigenous Knowledge is expressed through a review of the literature conducted on Indigenous knowledge and through symbolic imagery using the míkiwáhp (or “lodge”). Included is a discussion on appropriate considerations to utilizing Indigenous knowledge and its development in the context of colonial oppression over Indigenous peoples.

At a certain time during the filming of Daki Menan I began to question my own readiness to make metaphor of the experience of others. I began, instead, to regard the literal words of the Temi-Augama Anishinaabe elders with whom I was working as accurate representations of what they thought, especially the way they thought about how the world worked. But if this move to literalism were justified, I had to acknowledge that what I thought to be the parameters of being would change. This paper is about that change, as mediated through the concept of attentive receptivity.

By considering the work and words of some Anishinaabe Elders, Heidegger, and Spinoza we argue that these point at another state of being, a different ontological position, from the one most broadly expressed in modern western culture and in its schools. We call this state attentive receptivity. While leaving the door open for still other states of being, we sketch in some key conditions and qualities including its interdependence with the more-than-human world. We argue that the condition of attentive receptivity can be seen as a different ontological position because of fundamental differences in what is understood and enacted as self, place, community, and the environment. We also think that accompanying arguments for different ways of knowing imply a different way of being. Through this reflexively coupled loop of ontology and epistemology we end by suggesting that education, if it is serious about diversity, would do well to consider both ontology and epistemology in creating a truly diverse education.

This paper springs from conversations and my life experiences with Anishinabek Elders and practitioners, which includes my understanding of my life journey in re-searching for Anishinabe qwe (woman) giikendaaswin (knowledge, information, and the synthesis of our personal teachings). Anishinabek women have giikendaaswin about nibi (water) that can transform nibi (water) governance. Re-searching for giikendaaswin is directly linked to inclusive decision-making. This paper describes how Anishinabek understand and construct giikendaaswin based on Anishinabek ontology and epistemology, which includes nibi (water) giikendaaswin. This supports what Anishinabek know, how we come to know, how we know it to be true, and ultimately why we seek giikendaaswin.

What ultimately counts as law and as the legitimate processes of its generation, adjustment, and destruction are both empowered and constrained by the constitutional order from which they derive life. A constitutional framework, in turn, reflects unique understandings about what there is and how one can know: a lifeworld. Reflecting on his own experience, the author emphasizes how legal education harms when it fails to acknowledge and to begin to articulate the lifeworld beneath any system of law it aims to impart. There are serious questions to be taken up in considering whether we may move law between constitutional contexts without subjugating the law of one community to the lifeworld of another. The author asserts this is particularly important with respect to Canadian law schools’ recent interest in teaching Indigenous peoples’ own systems of law. He argues that Canadian (liberal) and Indigenous (what he calls “rooted”) constitutionalisms are not only different, but different in kind. As such, efforts to articulate Indigenous law within the forms of liberal constitutionalism ignore or trivialize the ongoing significance of Indigenous lifeworlds to governance of Indigenous lives today. Many Indigenous legal scholars are adverting to this tension, moving on from simply making space for Indigenous law in the academy to asking whether and how this may be done. The author briefly canvasses Indigenous theorists (students, professors, lawyers, and elders) whose works present Indigenous systems of law within their own lifeworlds. Tracking the lifeworld-law relationship, he proposes three reforms to legal education in Canada: (1) teach that all law is storied; (2) teach that Canadian constitutional law is a species of liberal constitutionalism; (3) require students to enrol in a prerequisite on an Indigenous people’s constitutional order before enrolling in a course on their law. By way of example, he concludes with the syllabus for an intensive course he designed and taught on Anishinaabe constitutionalism.

Dabaadendiziwin is the Anishinaabe word which roughly translates to ‘humility’ in English. The late elder Basil Johnston said that we can talk of dabaadendiziwin/humility, but until we can look at the squirrel sitting on the branch and know we are no greater and no less than her, it is only then that we have walked with dabaadendiziwin/humility. Law places diverse peoples together in complicated situations. It challenges people to step outside of themselves and consider new ways of being. This paper advocates that humility is an important legal principle to bring people together in a good way. It considers first, what is humility and why is it an important legal principle? Second, what processes are in place in both Canadian and Anishinaabe law to actively cultivate humility? And third, how can diverse peoples use these processes when interacting with one another in ways that foster greater harmony in this multi-juridical country? The examples show that Canadian colonial law has tried to account for the need to humble oneself to a position of being teachable through Charter analyses, diversifying the bench, and through Aboriginal rights doctrines of taking into account the “aboriginal perspective”, and reconciliation. The paper also considers how Anishinaabe law fosters humility through linguistic structure, leadership structure, ceremonial practices and akinoomaage (learning from the earth). This paper is a call for people to confront the challenge of working across legal orders, and replace timidity, fear and pride with courage, gratitude and humility. Le mot dabaadendiziwin est un mot anishinaabe qui signifie ni plus ni moins « humilité » en français. Selon feu l’aîné Basil Johnston, nous pouvons bien parler de « dabaadendiziwin » ou d’humilité, mais ce n’est que lorsque nous regardons l’écureuil sur la branche et que nous savons que nous ne sommes ni plus grands ni plus petits que lui que nous comprenons parfaitement le sens de ce mot. La loi contraint des peuples diversifiés à vivre ensemble des situations complexes. Elle oblige les personnes à élargir leurs horizons et à envisager de nouvelles façons d’être. Dans ce texte, l’auteur affirme que l’humilité est un principe de droit important qui permet de rassembler des personnes d’une bonne façon. Dans ce contexte, il se demande d’abord en quoi consiste l’humilité et pourquoi elle constitue un principe de droit important. En deuxième lieu, il examine les processus qui sont en place tant dans le droit canadien que dans la loi anishinaabe afin de promouvoir activement l’humilité. En troisième lieu, l’auteur se demande comment des peuples diversifiés peuvent utiliser ces processus dans le cadre de leurs interactions de façon à promouvoir une plus grande harmonie dans le pays multijuridique qu’est le nôtre. Les exemples qu’il donne illustrent comment les acteurs du droit colonial canadien ont tenté de reconnaître l’importance de l’humilité en veillant à ce que la loi puisse être enseignée au moyen d’analyses fondées sur la Charte et en adoptant des mesures visant à diversifier la composition de la magistrature ainsi que des doctrines davantage axées sur le point de vue autochtone et sur la réconciliation aux fins de l’analyse des droits autochtones. L’auteur se penche également sur la façon dont la loi anishinaabe cherche à promouvoir l’humilité au moyen de la structure linguistique, de la structure hiérarchique, des pratiques cérémoniales et de la méthode appelée « akinoomaage » (enseignements de la terre). Enfin, l’auteur demande aux peuples de faire preuve d’audace afin de composer avec divers ordres juridiques et de remplacer la timidité, la crainte et l’orgueil par le courage, la gratitude et l’humilité.


 
 
 This paper explores the concept of disability through a critical disability lens to understand how Indigenous ontologies are positioned within the dominant discourse of disabled peoples in Canada. This paper draws on the inherent knowledge of Indigenous (predominantly Anishinaabek) communities through an integration of story and relational understandings from Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers, and community members. Indigenous perspectives paired with academic literature illustrate the dichotomous viewpoints that position Indigenous peoples, most often children, as ‘disabled’ within mainstream institutions, regardless of individual designation. Such positioning suggests that the label of disability is a colonial construct that conflicts with Indigenous perspectives of community membership and perpetuates assimilation practices which maintain colonial harm.
 
 

The purpose of this study was to examine Anishinaabe identity development for school success. A group of six Elder’s, also known as Knowledge Keepers shared their life experiences that are integral to Mino Pimatisiwin – a good way of life for Anishinaabe people. The Elders that participated in this study are gifted with Indigenous knowledge in language, history, culture and a connection to the land/community. At a personal level and as an Anishinaabe person, this study was significant to me because my life foundation was embedded in an Anishinaabe worldview from birth. Dibaajimowin or storytelling was a big part of the learning process therefore; I utilized an Indigenous methodology of Dibaajimowin to share the stories of the Elders, which demonstrated a positive worldview, with meaningful exemplars despite the negative experience of attending residential school and government policies. The stories, which reflected cultural practices of the Anishinaabe Elders, provided lessons about the past and present, and insight into the future direction needed in education to support Aboriginal students. This study revealed the importance of the interconnected relationships of family, community and the environment, as key elements in developing cultural identity. The Elders also identified that balance is needed for Mino-Pimatisiwin known as a good life to live in the realm of two worlds (Anishinaabe and Western). This ideal needs to be extended into the classroom and school so the teachers can build upon the interconnected relationships through program planning and creating an engaging environment that validates an Aboriginal worldview

Ending colonialism requires the revitalization of not only indigenous systems of law, but also the indigenous legalities of which they form part. This means that Canada’s unique form of liberal constitutionalism cannot serve as the constitutional framework within which indigenous law is revitalized. Rather, we shall have to advert to the fact that indigenous law was and is generated by unique indigenous legal processes and institutions, which find their authorization in unique indigenous constitutional orders, which are in turn legitimated by indigenous peoples’ unique and varied creation stories. Through the gifts of diverse Anishinaabe writers and orators, and through work with my circle of elders, with aadizookaanan, in community, and on the land, I present one view of Anishinaabe legality. I give special emphasis to its earth-centric ‘rooted’ form of constitutionalism, which is characterized by mutual aid and its correlate structure, kinship. In the second half, I examine the problem of colonial violence in contemporary indigenous-settler relationships. I identify two principles necessary for indigenous-settler reconciliation and I consider how commonly proposed models of indigenous-settler relationship fare against them. I conclude that one vision of treaty, treaty mutualism—which is a form of rooted constitutionalism—is non-violent to indigenous peoples, settler peoples and to the earth. Finally, I consider counter-arguments on themes of fundamentalism, power, and misreading.<br>Graduate