In the summer of 2022, Anishinaabek from M’Chigeeng First Nation will connect and participate in the reclamation of Aki [land] which is an act of resistance. The food forest garden project will take place on the homelands of the traditional territory of the 1850 Robinson Huron Treaty [Ref], 1836 Bond Head Treaty [Ref], and disputable 1836 areas. The settlers state called “Canada” will remain on trial for the genocidal actions forced on indigenous people. This paper is a resistant proposal aimed to take place in Northern Ontario on the First Nation of M’Chigeeng. The paper will highlight the benefits of the several court decisions looking back from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the lives of the indigenous people once it is implemented.
The cross-discipline domains of Education and Indigenous Relations will determine contemporary perspectives on decolonization by the indigenous people through a five-stage process while learning about forest food gardening. The intergenerational colonization still impacts the modern-day indigenous communities through pressure and power.1. The latter also affects indigenous women and communities through patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism.
The plan of the Indigenous Feminist Theory focuses on gender relations, climate change, violence, and human rights. Indigenous Feminist Land Defenders work on projects such as land rights and decolonizing female sexuality (McGuire, 2020). Decolonization seeks to empower the indigenous communities to act contrary to the colonial ideologies associated with the exploitation and injustices by foreign forces (Breunlin, 2020). The theory will guide the Anishinaabe pilot study through interaction with technology and create an interpersonal connection with documentation of stories to preserve their culture. By using technology, it will be easier to preserve the traditions of the indigenous people and pass them on to the next generations. Indigenous women play a critical role in the leadership of the community’s well-being and collective community recovery process. The primary purpose of the Buffalo Skies Aki Forest Food Sovereignty pilot project is to transfer knowledge to younger people to reclaim voice, identity, and nationhood through talking circles and reconnection to the land.
Through an Indigenous Feminist approach, exploration of grassroots indigenous inter-sectionalism with the decolonizing process is done. The empowerment proposed pilot study offers the participants a broad introduction to the ways of accomplishing decolonization. The participants will be co-researchers, and further questions will be generated in brainstorming sessions hosted in teams. According to (Laenui 2016), decolonization follows five distinct stages: rediscovery and recovery, mourning, dreaming, commitment, and action. Are Indigenous people hosting reconciliation events on first nation territory? Do they know what that means and how is gaining control over the implementation of the broken child welfare system?
The study seeks to understand if the quality-of-life changes at the grassroots level after Supreme Court cases or governmental policy or laws infringe Indigenous people in Canada (Suzack, 2015). The socioeconomic conditions remain the key issues, and different results are expected. A small sample size of volunteer participants developed the forest food sovereignty project. Families, especially men, will be encouraged to participate in the weekly gardening evening. There is urgency for Anishinaabe to find their medicine and sustainable living. Wetlands and swamps through reconnection will allow participants to remember picking sweetgrass with their grandmas, aunties, cousins, and ancestors. The thesis explores the history of the indigenous women, efforts by locals to rejuvenate a sustainable economy without capitalism, plus describe the waves of Indigenous feminism. As the climate changes occur more frequently, Anishinabek must remember how to plant and eat out of forest gardens to ensure fresh food is available to all people in the community.
Statement of the Problem
There is little literature about the Indigenous community’s transition to the cultural process of unpacking the decolonization five-stages process. Safe and brave space environments to learning or talking circles will allow each person to participate in the forest garden. Sweetgrass was considered a currency in non-capital and unmet feelings. The state government keeps indigenous people in prison and steals their children. The AKI project started as a heart project to ensure sweet grass would be in abundance for all who wish to pick the medicine in the wetlands located by my home. The summer of 2022 will allow for reconnection of the land’s comprehensive knowledge of living off the land by living and non-living beings.
This research will include a post-colonial indigenous feminist theory to prove actionable implementation of planting sweetgrass pods, and two forest food kits will enhance food sovereignty. The project in discussion targets 562 Cross Hill Road, M’Chigeeng First Nation. Permission to use property to create an indigenous perennial food garden has gained approval. Old logging roads detected on the satellite will be the footpaths of planting berries and shrubs to create the living forest garden. The pilot project intends to learn more about the problematic terminology of food sovereignty.
Context of the Study
The study will happen in the northeastern parts of Ontario, on Manitoulin Island, the First Nation of M’Chigeeng. Community mobilization efforts at local levels are needed to decolonize the Indigenous people’s cultural, psychological, and economic freedom. Anishnaabe people continue to face land dispossession, acts of genocide, and assimilation by the settler state (Smith, 2006). Some local people are not aware of the violent colonial history causing dysfunctional patterns of oppression and indoctrination. Freire proposes a pedagogical model seeking to liberate the Indigenous people from the shackles of colonization (Freire, 2000). The Indigenous people can regain liberation if there are structural changes to facilitate knowledge acquisition and sharing.
The pilot study expects each person to remember their sound or more information in the search in advance. The notion of collectivity will be emphasized throughout the entire project. It is easier to understand and unpack reconciliation with a collective supporting people. A significant hurdle has been resolved, and all activities are hosted outside. The private property owner endorsing the food forest garden planning ceremonies will be encouraged to pick a basket for Nokomis miinwa Mishomis.
Purpose of the Study
Mnidoo Mnising [Manitoulin Island] residents of Manitoulin Indigenous and non-Indigenous will attend. A potential partnership may be an outcome of working together to feed Manitoulin more sustainably. The study will dive deep into the Indigenous feminist lens that allow women to rejoice in their roles as caretakers of water, land, and other resources inherent to the indigenous communities. Women are restoring their power through oral stories, legends, songs, and dance. McGuire brings a multi-dimensional Anishinaabe perspective on the sacred relationship with aki (Land) through place-based stories in the Lake Superior Regional territory. She sheds light on the almost erased women’s history through colonialism and eurocentric patriarchal norms starting with the adoption of the 1876 Act (Indian Act, 1876). For instance, women’s roles and rights have changed within Anishinabek communities as females express their opinions about important issues (McGuire-Adams, 2020). This has breathed life back into our stories, decolonized and indigenized Indigenous identity.
Research Questions
Two vital themes will guide the pilot study: the gift of sound and how good people are at medicine. No answers will be documented in this section of the circle. The two themes will be part of the breakout sessions of the study. Sound and medicine can have several different meanings and interpretations in various stages of life. The research questions for this study include:
- What does land base learning mean to you? (Create a list to check off or select on the computer).
- Does probing the classroom setting preferred? Is it possible?
- How can we teach the ways of knowing and being in a gentle, supportive learning opportunity to self, family, community, and nation? Do you think we need permission from the Feds? Say there are buckets of money, what one thing would you implement?
- As a community, what are the ways to approach the decolonization process? Yes, this may seem like a daunting thought as small steps turn into big steps.
- How can the Anishnaabek pass information through a circle work methodology about ethics and traditional knowledge to future generations?
- Do you have enough information about decolonization to lead to practice?
- What are the benefits of decolonization to the local community?
Thanksgiving and reciprocity guide people to remember the importance of knowledge sharing through truth-telling, storytelling, and hard work placed in bringing about vision. Everyone has a story and the knowledge to share it, celebrate collectivism and individualism.
- Would you be willing to share a story with the group in a circle?
- How can we share this info through technology in a good way?
- Some tangible outcomes will be a result of the pilot project.
- Digital Story Designers /Sound & Effects:
- 4 Optional social justice event(s) or community poster(4 Event/$200=$1000)
- 4 Tick Tock Video’s (5 events x 200= $1000)
Study Objectives
The current study seeks to meet the following objectives:
- The Indigenous feminist study brings women together to discuss Indigenous praxis to mobilize tangible solutions at the grass-root level about decolonization.
- To empower indigenous women to speak up to power by unpacking the complexity of patriarchy, colonialism, white supremacy, and capitalism.
- To challenge Indigenous land defenders to bring voice to current issues.
Significance of the Study
The proposed study could measure various yield and propagated sweetgrass pods length or harvest stats. The land-based act of resistance to creating a forest garden will allow participants to unpack heavy matrices to understand the context and uses of the dismantling of colonization. The Appreciative Inquiry-AI participants will create a digital segment to seek a positive alternative (Holmes, Bialik & Fadel, 2019). AI main components fit well with the project discovery, dream, design, and destiny; there is no need to create the wheel.
Decolonization emphasizes the need to develop an alternative approach to Euro-Western research methodologies when gathering information regarding Indigenous communities and other historically oppressed societies (Chilisa, 2011). According to (Laenui 2016), the dreaming phase is the most crucial stage where the oppressed start is realizing their possibilities if they create a social order based on their historical-cultural identity, belief systems, and values. The commitment phase requires the oppressed to break free from the shackles of westernization. The action phase refers to the stage where the oppressed take proactive actions to fight for their rights and identity.
The Indigenous feminist theory allows waking up and remembering how to use the Gifts of vibration, energy, sound, voice, and truth. According to Graveline (2000), the circle work methodology is transferable to many settings or circumstances. Circle work can profoundly affect people to continue discovering, dreaming, designing, the destiny to self-determine change. An outcome will be that community praxis will occur to create meaningful change, even how they see themselves and others. Elders will embrace technology to share with co-researchers who will have an informed awareness of the treatment of Indigenous women in Canada.
Literature Review
Indigenous Feminist Theory
The Indigenous Feminist theory introduces the praxis of power and how scholars have used theories to explain different phenomena, beliefs, frameworks, concepts, and ideologies. The Indigenous feminist theoretical lens will examine the changing concept. Power dominance still impacts Indigenous women and communities from colonization. Indigenous feminist theories (IFTs) teach about the intersections of power structures and geopolitical differences in gender subjectivity in the North American context, its margins, and the global south.
Pioneer Australian Indigenous feminist Aileen Moreton-Robinson gave Indigenous voice, space, and permission with “Talking Up to the White Women.” Theorizing Native Studies, edited by Audra Simpson and Andrea Smith, shows the need for theory (Simpson & Smith, 2014). Indigenous Feminist Theory will ground the discipline to support the merit and validity of the research. The invigorating works from Hooks (1994), Smith (1999), and Simpson (2010) provide the courage to work with the community. Simpson’s storytelling method allows the reader to go on a journey that weaves together complex issues pressing Nishnaabeg’s intelligence. The maple sugar story assists in aligning the embodied theory and the creation story. A new generation connected to the aki (land) will observe the natural world as their teacher (Simpson, 2014). Nishnaabeg’s intelligence is about returning to the land to learn sustainable practices and embodiment of traditional teachings.
An Indigenous decolonized mind questions the dominant western education system. Acts of resurgence to restore Indigenous intellectual knowledge systems infuse language and culture, such as immersion schools and land-based learning (Smith 2011). Empowerment to rebuild the knowledge systems with intellectuals, knowledge keepers, and language speakers will ground the knowledge. It is now time for this generation to leave tracks to reclaim the knowledge systems for the next generation to protect mother earth.
Indigenous Circle Work Protocols
Talking circles present a respectful approach to discussions and dialogues regarding social and cultural discourse. Talking circles have reemerged as a practical approach for starting and maintaining intragroup communication (Becker et al., 2006). People can discuss pertinent issues, share information, offer support, and solve problems. Talking circles provide a conducive environment for building, nurturing, reinforcing, and sometimes healing relationships (Brown & Di Lallo, 2020). According to Becker et al. (2006), talking circles are traditionally symbolic and sensitive to each participant’s culture, norms, and values. Every person is provided with an equal opportunity to contribute to the circle offer their viewpoints and suggestions (Luna et al., 2020). A sense of communion and interconnectedness, seeking to voice concerns, decrease invisibility, prevent favoritism of any group, share power, and solve problems (Brown & Di Lallo, 2020). Talking circles are supportive, culturally meaningful, and unbound from external influence.
Methodology and Research Design
The Indigenous research paradigm sets the framework for decolonizing the universalized research methodologies when exploring Indigenous knowledge, worldviews, language, culture, and philosophies. The Post-Colonial Feminist Participatory Action Research (PFPAR) is concerned with culturally responsive community engagement to create an intergenerational digital story (Hayhurst et al., 2015). The study uses the anti-oppressive methodology because it utilizes a group-centered approach based on practice that seeks to address the impacts of oppression and marginalization (REF p.276). Pod Groups (3-5 ppl) will provide a weekly appreciative inquiry worksheet (McGuire-Adams, 2020). Using the AI method for the group collective to better get to know one another and appreciate Inquiry worksheets will develop before meeting the group.
Digital Storytelling
The use of digital storytelling will significantly help the research aims and objectives in the master thesis. It will aim to create a point of view for the women who have less information about their past, thus helping to collect accurate data. Including probes, questions will be paramount to get the participants’ minds jogging with a possible conclusion as they participate in the digital storytelling. The storytellers will be encouraged to be authentic and express their emotions in their speech and expressions when narrating the stories. The use of the native soundtracks of the Anishinaabe will be of paramount importance in achieving the cultural observance of the Anishinaabe people.
The soundtracks will help support and embellish the story’s narration and help the newer generation of the Anishinaabe people learn their original sounds, helping expand the theme of the sound. The narrators are allowed to consider and not press for much information at once, which is achieved through preplanning of the narration. The storyboard method preplanning will ensure that the information provided during the narration is comprehendible. It will allow the step-by-step structuring of the stories by the narrator. The pace will also be standard to ensure nothing goes unnoticed by the participant of the digital storytelling.
Selection and Access
The participant will be open to all M’Chigeeng First Nation families; elder’s activities will be hosted outside. People will be invited to visit the five acres of apple orchard and wetland restoration, depending on the feedback. The long-term target is for a forest school opened, so children have a safe place to learn STEM in an Anishinaabe worldview. It is important to remember that voice silencing is intergenerational and has no binary, so there will be no categorizing of men or women in the study. The talking circles are viewed as sharing or learning circles. Suppose further aftercare will be discussed in length in the ethics section. Confidentiality experience stories from a personal perspective need to be processed and unpacked.
Each participant will be over the age of eighteen years of age. The anticipated sample size of the research is n= 8-14 participants, Learning Circle =6. A clear communication strategy will create clear messaging to ensure everyone understands the intent, processes, and consensus-building practices. Having the process mapped will ensure the participants’ consent at each talking circle. We must be mindful that indigenous people are shy to digitally record their voice of taking a digital photograph. Everyone will have the option to decline to be recorded at all project stages. Empowering people to find their sound and gift is the primary purpose of the research.
Human Subjects’ Procedure
The research proposal will go through many riggers of ethics reviews processes. A total of four different presentations will be required before research begins. Submissions include Laurentian University ethics, The Manitoulin Anishinaabek Research Review Committee (Research Ethics, n.d.), and M’Chigeeng First Nation Chief and Council to obtain a Band Council Resolution (BCR) to enter the territory. Indigenous communities’ participation in research has not always been positive. Indigenous protocols and the Tri-Council Policy Statement (Government of Canada, 2019) and Ownership, Control, Access, Possession (OCAP-(National Aboriginal Health Organization First Nations Centre, 2007) have ethical guidelines to guide the research responsibilities.
Analysis, Findings, and Discussion
Data Collection Process
Each participant will complete a demographic questionnaire for report creation only. The data collection will occur from May 2022 to August 2022 using safe Covid 19 precautions. From the digital stories, data will be compiled on the stories given to help conclude the past experiences. There will be personal observance in digital storytelling and talking circles to ensure that participants’ emotions and reactions to other stories are well recorded.
Data Analysis Procedure
The project is community empowerment centered on bringing new skills to the territory. Bi-weekly talking circles will occur with different topics to build relationships and introduce indigenous feminist research practices and crucial terminology. Circle solutions will be transferred into the NVivo software to determine trends and identify the main themes. Data analysis evaluation of the talking circles will use Affonso (2000)’s focus logical group schema on finding the thematic findings using the QSR NVivo 11 software. The following phases will occur data collection, data pre-analysis, data digitalization, data reduction and display, and conclusion and verification. The data will identify three tangible community goals mapped out. The volunteer group will develop specific Indigenous data indicators or data collection. Clearly, actionable items of culture continuity practices will be culturally responsive. Frequently, research reports never turn into action; community empowerment will develop land-based actions.
The pilot projects aim to empower local people to be co-researchers and ensure capacity building. Knowledge transfer is equally essential when researching in a community. Sharing knowledge ensures the group’s information about how the process runs. Participants have control over their projects as the preplan activities will be made in advance. In September 2022, the co-researchers will create a joint participatory report, also known as manifesto. The participants will be assisting in determining the themes, and will encourage consensus building and capacity building for future projects.
Limitations of Research
A limitation of the pilot study is the small sample size, primarily on one First Nation. There are six circles in the pilot study; a more prolonged observation period may be necessary for community praxis to transform into a community of change. Before entering First Nation communities, it is important to scan community environment readiness before active community engagement research (McGregor, 2020). False stereotypes of different terminology may be associated with Indigenous feminism, advocacy, and decolonization which may decrease participation.
With a limited time for field research data collection, a complete analysis cannot determine all intersectionality. Additional research at the Ph.D. level to further analyze the praxis of restoring Indigenous culture is required. Secondly, there is a shortage of Indigenous practitioners who can talk about the decolonization process. The tools developed to host a talking circle are universal to any situation to allow safe boundaries. Circle work has been around for centuries; to build consensus building in governance and there is no hierarchy, everyone is equal.
Anticipated Findings
A bi-weekly multicultural talking circle to change will provide new tools for decolonization five stages. Individuals are encouraged to understand the terminology and process to take personal responsibility for the decolonization process of Biskaabiiyang. Digital storytelling might reveal the reason behind the erosion of the cultural ways of the Anishinaabe people and mainly among the women. There is an expectation that the discrimination of the Anishinaabe people will be brought to light. Indigenous women have acclaimed the monarchy of their families and communities. The research journey will connect multiple generations to have open conversations about resilience and perseverance. The talking circles will allow permission to advocate with their voice to protect their human rights and freedom.
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Footnotes
- 1 Colonizers use their power over the indigenous people to continue oppressing them.