For the Anishinaabeg people, who span a vast geographic region from the Great Lakes to the Plains and beyond, stories are vessels of knowledge. They are bagijiganan, offerings of the possibilities within Anishinaabeg life. Existing along a broad narrative spectrum, from aadizookaanag (traditional or sacred narratives) to dibaajimowinan (histories and news)—as well as everything in between—storytelling is one of the central practices and methods of individual and community existence. Stories create and understand, survive and endure, revitalize and persist. They honor the past, recognize the present, and provide visions of the future. In remembering, (re)making, and (re)writing stories, Anishinaabeg storytellers have forged a well-traveled path of agency, resistance, and resurgence. Respecting this tradition, this groundbreaking anthology features twenty-four contributors who utilize creative and critical approaches to propose that this people’s stories carry dynamic answers to questions posed within Anishinaabeg communities, nations, and the world at large. Examining a range of stories and storytellers across time and space, each contributor explores how narratives form a cultural, political, and historical foundation for Anishinaabeg Studies. Written by Anishinaabeg and non-Anishinaabeg scholars, storytellers, and activists, these essays draw upon the power of cultural expression to illustrate active and ongoing senses of Anishinaabeg life. They are new and dynamic bagijiganan, revealing a viable and sustainable center for Anishinaabeg Studies, what it has been, what it is, what it can be.
ContentsMaajitaadaa: Nanaboozhoo and the Flood, Part 2 - John BorrowsBagijige: Making an Offering - Jill Doerfler, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik StarkEko-bezhig Bagijigan: Stories as RootsIs That All There Is? Tribal Literature - Basil H. JohnstonName’: Literary Ancestry as Presence - Heid E. ErdrichBeshaabiiag G’gikenmaaigowag: Comets of Knowledge - Margaret NooriEko-niizh Bagijigan: Stories as RelationshipsThe Story Is a Living Being: Companionship with Stories in Anishinaabeg Studies - Eva Marie Garroutte and Kathleen Delores WestcottK’zaugin: Storying Ourselves into Life - Niigaanwewidam James SinclairTeaching as Story - Thomas PeacockEko-niswi Bagijigan: Stories as RevelationsEvery Dream Is a Prophecy: Rethinking Revitalization — Dreams, Prophets, and Routinized Cultural Evolution - Cary MillerConstitutional Narratives: A Conversation with Gerald Vizenor - Gerald Vizenor and James MackayAnd the Easter Bunny Dies: Old Traditions from New Stories - Julie PelletierEko-niiwin Bagijigan: Stories as ResiliencyA Philosophy for Living: Ignatia Broker and Constitutional Reform among the White Earth Anishinaabeg - Jill DoerflerA Perfect Copy: Indian Culture and Tribal Law - Matthew L. M. FletcherThe Hydromythology of the Anishinaabeg: Will Mishipizhu Survive Climate Change, or Is He Creating It? - Melissa K. NelsonEko-naanan Bagijigan: Stories as ResistanceWild Rice Rights: Gerald Vizenor and an Affiliation of Story - Kimberly BlaeserTransforming the Trickster: Federal Indian Law Encounters Anishinaabe Diplomacy - Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik StarkTheorizing Resurgence from within Nishnaabeg Thought - Leanne Betasamosake Simpson with Edna ManitowabiEko-ingodwaasi Bagijigan: Stories as ReclamationAadizookewininiwag and the Visual Arts: Story as Process and Principle in Twenty-First Century Anishinaabeg Painting - David StirrupStories as Mshkiki: Reflections on the Healing and Migratory Practices of Minwaajimo - Dylan A. T. MinerHorizon Lines, Medicine Painting, and Moose Calling: The Visual/Performative Storytelling of Three Anishinaabeg Artists - Molly McGlennenEko-niizhwaasi Bagijigan: Stories as ReflectionsAnishinaabeg Studies: Creative, Critical, Ethical, and Reflexive Brock PitawanakwatTelling All of Our Stories: Reorienting the Legal and Political Events of the Anishinaabeg - Keith Richotte Jr.On the Road Home: Stories and Reflections from Neyaashiinigiming - Lindsay Keegitah BorrowsAbout the Authors
