Dadibaajim: Returning Home through Narrative

273 Pages·2021·2.577 MB·English

by  Helen Olsen Agger

Dadibaajim
critical studies in native history
issn 1925-5888
jarvis brownlie, series editor
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D a d i b a a j i m
R E T U R N I N G H O M E
T H R O U G H N A R R A T I V E
HELEN OLSEN AGGER
Dadibaajim: Returning Home through Narrative
© Helen Olsen Agger 2021
25 24 23 22 21 1 2 3 4 5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database
and retrieval system in Canada, without the prior written permission
of the publisher, or, in the case of photocopying or any other
reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright,
www.accesscopyright.ca, 1-800-893-5777.
University of Manitoba Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Treaty 1 Territory
uofmpress.ca
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
Critical Studies in Native History, issn 1925-5888 ; 22
isbn 978-0-88755-954-9 (paper)
isbn 978-0-88755-958-7 (pdf)
isbn 978-0-88755-956-3 (epub)
isbn 978-0-88755-960-0 (bound)
Cover design by Mike Carroll.
Interior design by Jess Koroscil.
Cover and interior images courtesy of Helen Olsen Agger.
Map design by Weldon Hiebert. Maps contain information
licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Printed in Canada
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards
to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
The University of Manitoba Press acknowledges the financial support for
its publication program provided by the Government of Canada through
the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba
Department of Sport, Culture, and Heritage, the Manitoba Arts Council,
and the Manitoba Book Publishing Tax Credit.
Miigwech, Thank you,
Nimaamaawens, My dearest Mother,
E’wiiji’ishiyan indanokiiwining, For supporting my work,
E’miinishiyan gigikendaasowin, For entrusting me with your
E’gikinô’amawishiyan wenji Knowledge, for teaching me the
Ishpendaagwak i’i Value of that
Gigikendaasowin. Knowledge.
Giin, Nimaamaawens, To you, my dear Mother,
Gidinin, I express
Gichi miigwech. My deepest gratitude.

Contents
Preface
ix
bezhig/one
Ninamegosibii Anishinaabewimin
We Are the People of Trout Water
1
niinzhin/two
Wenji Gikendamang
How We Know
24
nisin/three
Wenji Inendamang
Subjectivity
38
niiwin/four
Ezhibii’igaazoyang
How We Are Written
61
naanan/five
Wenji-Anishinaabewiyang
Our Anishinaabe Selves
80
ingodôso/six
Ni Noopimakamig-aajimomin
Our Boreal Narratives
105
niinzhôso/seven
Wemitigoozhiiwaadiziwin
Colonial Identity
130
nishôso/eight
Gaa Bii-izhi Gikendamang
Anishinaabe Rectitude
151
zhaangaso/nine
Gaa’izhibii’igaazoyang Mewinzha
Historical Texts
164
Conclusion
Zagakibii’igem
212
Acknowledgements
217
Notes
219
Glossary of Namegosibii
Anishinaabemowin Terms
229
Bibliography
241
Index
245
Preface
My mother, Dedibaayaanimanook, began to absorb the fundamentals of
Anishinaabe philosophy as she listened to the dadibaajim conversations
of her elders. From the time of my own birth and early childhood, I had
the privilege of hearing her dadibaajim narratives as she spoke them to my
siblings and me in Anishinaabemowin. But it was not until much later in
life, after many years had passed, that I came to more fully understand the
wisdom in her narratives and to realize that they are the iteration of what
her elders had taught her as a child. As the means by which Anishinaabe
people transmitted their knowledges, insights, and teachings from one
generation to the next throughout the ages, dadibaajim, oral narrative, is a
critical institution of learning. By listening to dadibaajim, not only can we
as Anishinaabe people today learn about our ancestors and homelands,
but non-Anishinaabe people may learn to reremember their ancestral
places of origin. The language of that learning is Anishinaabemowin.
My extensive use of Anishinaabemowin may at first seem jarring,
but the language continues to be the means for centring Anishinaabe
thought—just as it animated and gave meaning to the world in which
Dedibaayaanimanook and her fellow elders were born and raised.
I also use Anishinaabemowin to demonstrate that oral tradition and the
Western essay-writing convention can blend together to contribute to
both the Anishinaabe and academic communities in ways that decolonize
research norms and expectations. Highlighting the importance of telling
Anishinaabe history using an Anishinaabe frame of reference,1 therefore,
this work sets out a theoretical approach for colonial and neo-colonial