Anishinaabeg Kinship Diplomacy and Animal Nations: A Critical Review of Political Leadership By Alexander Douglas Paterson A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts in Indigenous Governance Department of Indigenous Studies Master of Arts in Indigenous Governance The University of Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada April 2018 Copyright © Alexander Douglas Paterson Paterson 0 Abstract In this thesis I argue that engagement with animal nations to remake the world is an embedded practice of Anishinaabeg stories. From the perspective of my survey of the Anishinaabeg resurgence literature I conclude that these sources point towards Anishinaabeg leaders renewing their engagement with animal nations as a potential route for re-establishing an Anishinaabeg-led grounded normativity across Anishinaabewaki. Within this analysis I foreground the role of the council form as the venue for interspecies communication and collaboration in both Anishinaabeg stories and the historical record. I relate Anishinaabeg stories to Anishinaabeg scholar’s engagement with ethnohistorical literature on the clan system and the Midewiwin to situate the practice of council within the multipolar nature of the Anishinaabeg social formation. Lastly, I contextualize these practices within the embedded practices of a migratory kinship diplomacy. Keywords: Anishinaabe, leadership, zagaswediwin, resurgence, governance, anthrozoology, Indigenous Diplomacy, ogimaawiwin, doodemag, clan system. Paterson 1 Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 Positionality and Methodology ................................................................................................................ 11 1. Aadizookaanag, Biskaabiiyang, zhigo Anishinaabewin .................................................................. 15 1.1 Returning to the Aadizookaanag ...................................................................................................... 17 1.2 Resurgence and Grounded Normativity ....................................................................................... 23 Biskaabiiyang: The Resurgence of Anishinaabewin ................................................................... 30 1.3 Anishinaabewin: Shapeshifting with Flux .................................................................................... 35 Shapeshifting: Animacy, Agency, and the Flux of Creation ...................................................... 39 The Role of the Settler-Colonial State ............................................................................................... 44 2. Locating Political Animals in Aadizookaanag ..................................................................................... 48 2.1 Recreation Stories .................................................................................................................................. 49 2.2 Zagaswediwin Stories .......................................................................................................................... 52 2.3 Doodemag: Animal Kinship Stories ................................................................................................ 57 3. Ogimaawiwin Roles ...................................................................................................................................... 60 3.1 Locating the Ogimaag ........................................................................................................................... 62 3.2 Gichi-Anishinaabeg: The Doodemag Elders ................................................................................ 67 3.3 Gaagiigidowininni: Speaking for Ogimaag ................................................................................... 69 3.4 Mayosewininiwag: War Chiefs .......................................................................................................... 70 4. Zagaswediwin: Clan Structure and Decision-Making ...................................................................... 73 4.1 Doodemag Origins ................................................................................................................................. 75 4.2 Zagaswediwin: Clans-in-Council ...................................................................................................... 81 4.3 Council Process and Consultation ................................................................................................... 84 4.4 Ogimaawiwin, Council, and Territoriality .................................................................................... 87 4.5 Treaty-Making and Kinship Diplomacy ......................................................................................... 94 5. Manidoog: Other-Than-Human Kinship Diplomacy ...................................................................... 101 5.1 Manidoo: Power and Mino-Bimaadiziwin .................................................................................. 102 5.2 Jiisakaanan: Zagaswediwin with Animal Nations ................................................................... 108 5.3 The Midewiwin and the Other-than-Human Nations ............................................................ 116 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................................... 123 Further Research and Validation .......................................................................................................... 126 Glossary ............................................................................................................................................................... 129 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................................... 130 Paterson 2 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the University of Winnipeg and the Duff Roblin Scholarship for providing me with funding to complete my Master’s degree. I want to acknowledge the teachers I’ve had who introduced me to Anishinaabeg and Nehiyawak ways of knowing: Tobasonakwut Kinew, Lionel and Heather Houston, Brock Pitawanakwat, Annie Boulanger, and their teachers before them. I especially want to thank Lionel and Heather for making sure I understood living life from the perspective of kinship. You took me into your family and treated me like a son. I also want to thank the faculty in the Department of Indigenous Studies for giving me a second chance to complete my degree. I especially want to acknowledge Dr. Julie Pelletier for going to bat for me to continue my academic journey, your support is one of the main reasons I accomplished my goals. I want to thank my committee members Dr. Belanger and Dr. Fiola for providing me the advice to properly centre Anishinaabeg theory and make my work better. I want to recognize the support of my parents: Ted and Dar, who are so patient with me, and have come to expect that I will always take the long, hard, winding route to complete a journey. I also want to acknowledge my friends Egor, Andy, and Krystal who have been there even when I’ve been a complete fuck up. I also want to recognize Clayton and Eriel for building me up from my lowest of lows while still challenging my ingrained white supremacy. Finally, I want to express my love and gratitude to my partner, Alana, for letting me get a puppy before I finished my thesis. Alana, your intellectual curiosity, moral compass, and drive continue to show me the way down dark pathways. We did it. Thank you. Paterson 3 “Waynabozhoo managed to save himself by finding a large log floating in the vast expanse of water. In time, more and more animals joined him on the log. Floating aimlessly in the ocean of floodwater, Waynabozhoo decided that something must be done. He decided to dive down in the water and grab a handful of earth. Waynabozhoo dived down into the depths and was gone a very long time, returning without the earth. In turn, a number of animals – Loon, helldiver, turtle, otter, and mink – all tried and failed. Finally Zhaashkoonh (muskrat) tried. Zhaashkoonh was gone forever, and eventually floated to the surface, dead. Waynabozhoo picked the muskrat out of the water and found a handful of mud in Zhaashkoonh’s paw. Mikinaag (turtle) volunteered to bear the weight of the earth on her back and Waynabozhoo placed the earth there. Waynabozhoo began to sing. The animals danced in a clockwise circular fashion and the winds blew, creating a huge and widening circle. Eventually, they created the huge island on which we live, North America.” – Edna Manitowabi1 1 This version of the recreation story was found in Leanne Simpson’s Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back (2011, pp. 68-69) Paterson 4 Introduction When Elder Brother remade the world, he cooperated with the animals and the winds. It was a multispecies, or multi-national, project of collaboration. They remade life together through vision, song, and dance. Today there is a