LEARNING FROM MANOOMIN
GLR-150821
This thesis spatilizes three initiatives restoring Manoomin*(wild rice) in the Great Lakes Basin with drawings, reflections, and conversation. These document the evolution of
the land through the “restorying” of relationships, following principles such as Vanessa Watt’s “Place-Thought” and
Willie Ermine’s “Ethical Space”.
Within each of the three initiatives, Manoomin offers a
range of lessons; beginning with sovereignty, harvesting
rights, and contrasting perceptions of land within the restoration of wild rice in Pigeon Lake, ‘Ontario’. The dynamics of co-management are revealed through the restoration of the so-called St. Louis River in ‘Duluth, Minnesota’, one of the most polluted watersheds in the region and the sixth stop along the Anishinaabeg migration from the East coast of Turtle Island. Finally, the importance of establishingrespectful relationships is emphasized in conversations with individuals in ‘Michigan’, who are involved in the seeding of Manoomin on the University of Michigan properties and a decades old effort to restore wild rice on Lake Lac Vieux Desert.
Through personal reflections on these relationships created
through Manoomin, this thesis humbly considers how the
process of reconciliation and the restoration of land might
meaningfully support efforts towards Indigenous sovereignty
and self determination.
*Manoomin - wild rice is described within the Mishomis Book by the leader and activist Edward Benton Benai, as one of the sacred gifts from the Earth to the Anishinaabeg of the Great Lakes Basin. Over the past few centuries however, this relationship has been impacted by settler colonial land practices such as logging, mining, the creation of waterways and removal of harvesting rights through official documents and land dispossessions.
While these movements of settler colonialism from governments and individuals have fragmented the relationship between Manoomin and the Anishinaabeg, there has been a growing movement by Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals and communities to restore wild rice in this region through reseeding, and wetland restoration efforts. The documentation of these restoration efforts through drawings and interviews was the primary focus of this thesis as they challenged colonial methods of managing wetlands, while also centering Indigenous land rights.
Within each of the three initiatives, Manoomin offers a
range of lessons; beginning with sovereignty, harvesting
rights, and contrasting perceptions of land within the restoration of wild rice in Pigeon Lake, ‘Ontario’. The dynamics of co-management are revealed through the restoration of the so-called St. Louis River in ‘Duluth, Minnesota’, one of the most polluted watersheds in the region and the sixth stop along the Anishinaabeg migration from the East coast of Turtle Island. Finally, the importance of establishingrespectful relationships is emphasized in conversations with individuals in ‘Michigan’, who are involved in the seeding of Manoomin on the University of Michigan properties and a decades old effort to restore wild rice on Lake Lac Vieux Desert.
Through personal reflections on these relationships created
through Manoomin, this thesis humbly considers how the
process of reconciliation and the restoration of land might
meaningfully support efforts towards Indigenous sovereignty
and self determination.
*Manoomin - wild rice is described within the Mishomis Book by the leader and activist Edward Benton Benai, as one of the sacred gifts from the Earth to the Anishinaabeg of the Great Lakes Basin. Over the past few centuries however, this relationship has been impacted by settler colonial land practices such as logging, mining, the creation of waterways and removal of harvesting rights through official documents and land dispossessions.
While these movements of settler colonialism from governments and individuals have fragmented the relationship between Manoomin and the Anishinaabeg, there has been a growing movement by Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals and communities to restore wild rice in this region through reseeding, and wetland restoration efforts. The documentation of these restoration efforts through drawings and interviews was the primary focus of this thesis as they challenged colonial methods of managing wetlands, while also centering Indigenous land rights.
