Anishinaabewaajimodaa sa: re-siting our selves home through narrative
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Date
2017
Authors
Agger, Helen
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Abstract
This thesis examines the processes of discursive erasure, denial, and displacement of Namegosibii Anishinaabe historical presence on and connection to the Namegosibiing Trout Lake homelands as their heritage. Four major themes that emerge from the narratives of eight Namegosibiing community member participants clearly articulate Anishinaabe identity. These are Anishinaabemowin, Anishinaabewaadiziwin, wemitigoozhii-aadiziwin, and the noopimakamig aki boreal traditional territories. Participants’ dadibaajimowin narrative explains how the ingression of wemitigoozhi European (descended) settlers and the forces of wemitigoozhii-aadiziwin colonialism affected the ability of Namegosibii Anishinaabeg to maintain ancestral practices. Spanning several generational groups, these dadibaajimowin narratives demonstrate the need to revitalize Anishinaabe knowledge about how the aanikoobidaaganag ancestors expressed self-identity through life in the homeland territories. A critical Indigenous methodological component of this research is the extensive use of Anishinaabemowin throughout the text. Four sources of archival material, the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) records, treaty annuity pay lists (1876-1897, 1910), Canada’s 1901census, and the Butikofer Papers (2009), provide historical information about names, dates, and events that is not always a part of the Anishinaabe dadibaajimowin identity narrative. With the need for written documentation as supporting evidence, this thesis provides the kind of information that clearly demonstrates the Namegosibii Anishinaabe people’s claim to their history, identity, and inherent entitlement to the care, use, and occupation of the Namegosibiing Trout Lake homelands.
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Indigenous studies