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Mnidoo-Worlding: Merleau-Ponty and Anishinaabe Philosophical Translations

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Mnidoo-Worlding: Merleau-Ponty and Anishinaabe Philosophical Translations Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 11-20-2017 12:00 AM Mnidoo-Worlding: Merleau-Ponty and Anishinaabe Philosophical Translations Dolleen Tisawii'ashii Manning The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Helen Fielding The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Antonio Calcagno The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Dolleen Tisawii'ashii Manning 2017 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Epistemology Commons Recommended Citation Manning, Dolleen Tisawii'ashii, "Mnidoo-Worlding: Merleau-Ponty and Anishinaabe Philosophical Translations" (2017). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5171. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5171 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This dissertation develops a concept of mnidoo-worlding, whereby consciousness emerges as a kind of possession by what is outside of ‘self’ and simultaneously by what is internal as self-possession. Weaving together phenomenology, post structural philosophy and Ojibwe Anishinaabe orally transmitted knowledges, I examine Ojibwe Anishinaabe mnidoo, or ‘other than human,’ ontologies. Mnidoo refers to energy, potency or processes that suffuse all of existence and includes humans, animals, plants, inanimate ‘objects’ and invisible and intangible forces (i.e. Thunder Beings). Such Anishinaabe philosophies engage with what I articulate as all-encompassing and interpenetrating mnidoo co-responsiveness. The result is a resistance to cooption that concedes to the heterogeneity of being. I define this murmuration, that is, this concurrent gathering of divergent and fluctuating actuation/signals as mnidoo- worlding. Mnidoo-worlding entails a possession by one’s surroundings that subsumes and conditions the possibility of agency as entwined and plural co-presence. The introductory chapter defines the terms of mnidoo philosophy, and my particular translations of it. The chapter further disentangles mnidoo-philosophy from the ways it has been appropriated, and misinterpreted by western interlocuters. It also situates the mnidoo ontology I am developing in broader conversations in phenomenology about the relational world. Chapter Two explores the complex implications of conducting Anishinaabe philosophy in colonial languages and institutions, framed in the context of settler colonialism and discourses of reconciliation and indigenizing the academy. In Chapter Three I engage with the ‘Indigenous Renaissance’ in Indigenous arts and scholarship, outlining epistemological-pedagogical methods including oral traditions, embodied knowing, land-based pedagogy and non-interference pedagogy. The fourth chapter forwards a critique of liberal humanism and posthumanism through an interrogation of Deleuze and Guattari’s concept “becoming-animal.” The final, culminating chapter brings Anishinaabe ontologies, tacitly found embedded in our everydayness, together with Indigenous ways of being attuned to what is there in the world. In dialogue with Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology I take up Anishinaabe mnidoo philosophies to consider everyday phenomena from the collective movement of birds, to intuition and dreams. These are profoundly imbued in these philosophically-lived practices as embodied ciphers— languages and knowledge hidden in our “encrustation” with the world—subtly revealed as a simultaneous presence and elsewhere paradox. Keywords Ojibwe knowledges, mnidoo, manitou, other-than-human, phenomenology, Merleau-Ponty, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, oral tradition, non-interference pedagogy, posthuman ii Co-Authorship Statement I have struggled over how these words speak as ink on paper. This text ultimately must be acknowledged as co-authored for I cannot disentangle myself, my thoughts, my knowing from mnidoo and my community of shared knowledge. Chi miigwetch to all of you who knowingly or not have shaped my world and contributed to this small part of our collective knowledge that I share. iii Acknowledgements Miigwetch to all my relatives/relations—all, everyone—who support and guide me no matter how brief, direct, or indirect our exchange. Much gratitude is given to aki (the land) and to the traditional Anishinaabe territories and people, in particular Kikonaang miinawaa Aazhoodenaang (Kettle and Stoney Point) and Bkejwanong (Walpole Island) for providing me with the basis of who I am and how I know the world. Thank you for feeding the Anishinaabe with your words, thoughts, and hearts that we might remake our lives in astonishing new ways. Much gratitude goes to my mother, Rose W. (Elijah) Manning Mshkode-bzhikiikwe baa, Turtle Clan (b 1933-2006), who remains my first and primary teacher, an Elder and ancestor whose knowledge continues to unfold in me; her lifetime of teaching permeates my very existence, my thinking, and everyday being in the world. Her lessons flow throughout infinity, through my hair, down my shoulders, through the tips of my fingers, intermingling with memory, dream and the words of other Elders. I am also thankful to my Irish-Canadian father, Murray Alfred Manning (b.1921-1982), with whom I continue to affectionately debate through this interrogation. Standing between the two of you is the wellspring of this work, for it places my being-in-the-world at a troubling (though always loving) junction, torn between conflicting and disparate systems of thought and ways of knowing. Chi miigwetch for all that you give me. Chi miigwetch to my Cultural Advisor, Mona Stonefish Kahawane (Bear Clan), for her guidance over the past thirty years. Stonefish generously shares her knowledge as a translator, traditional doctor, traditional knowledge keeper, and cultural advisor, as well as being my aunt. Her teachings, in dialogue with those of my mother, have greatly influenced my thinking. I have been extremely fortunate to work with supervisors Helen Fielding and Antonio Calcagno who have been open-minded and iv encouraging of my experimentation as I figure out how to master what is foreign to me, and also to proceed in a way that honors and acknowledges Gaa-izhi-zhaawendaagoziyaang (“that which is given to us in a loving way” Geniusz 67). I feel very fortunate to have found not one, but two professors who are so supportive. Miigwetch for taking me seriously, and for broaching with such openness the possibility of respectful dialogue between Continental and Anishinaabe philosophy. Thank you to my reader Jan Plug, who I have taken the most graduate classes with, for good reason. Miigwetch to Regna Darnell for helping me transition from contemporary studio arts to rigours of academia. Thank you to my committee, Brent Debassige (Anishinaabe), Joel Faflak, Jodi Byrd (Chickasaw), and Patrick Mahon for not only chairing my defense, but for being such a good colleague and friend over the years. Chi miigwetch also to my aunt Rita (Sands) Clement Naakwegiizhigokwe, whose more recent friendship and input were essential to the Anishinaabemowin spelling and translations in this essay. Thank you to both Mona and Rita for sharing your considerable expertise as first- language Anishinaabemowin speakers and for helping continue the project begun with my mother to translate the philosophy that resides as much in the people as it does in our language. I would like to thank Manitoulin Elder Shirley Williams (Bird Clan) for her dedication to Anishnaabemowin, from which I have benefitted, and Elders Bruce Elijah (Wolf Clan), Thomas Mattinas and Adam Lussier (Eagle clan) who have informed my thinking, no matter how brief our interaction. There are many people whom I am grateful to for your dialogue and support. Miigwetch to my sisters Marena, Joanne and Jane along with my Cree sister Betty Ann Stoney. Thank you also to my brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. At more than a hundred, there are too many of you to name! Special acknowledgement goes to my nephew Thomas Adam Jackson, with whom I have often had long converations about Anishinaabe philosophy over the years. Thank you to my research v assistant Cadence O’Neil, who came in at the last minute to save the day by double-checking quotes and references before the final submission. I would like to acknowledge Noelle (Stutt) Walsh, an avide eco-activist, camping enthusiast and my mother-in-law, for sending the murmuration video that opened a new way for me to articulate the mnidoo-worlding matrix. I would also like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Vanier Scholarship Program, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, Casino Rama’s Award of Excellence Program, The Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at Western University, and Southwestern Ontario First Nations Secretariat, for supporting this project. Thank you also to Alanna Thain, and The Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies at McGill University, for welcoming me as a Visiting Professor, and supporting my research. I would also like to acknowledge that sections of this dissertation were published in Feminist Phenomenology Futures, Eds. Helen Fielding and Dorothea Olkowski, Indiana University Press 2017 (Chapter 5), Studio Magazine – Craft and Design
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