Gii-kaapizigemin manoomin Neyaashing: A resurgence of Anishinaabeg nationhood

Land is medicine and has always been a crucial site where Anishinaabeg pedagogy transpires to transcend western notions of time, law and boundary. In the fall of 2013, four of our Anishinaabeg communities, belonging to Treaty Three, came together and embodied nationhood by occupying Neyaashing (the Point) and engaging in land based practices - Gii-kaapizigemin manoomin Neyaashing (we roasted wild rice at the Point). This paper identifies how kaapizigemin manoomin Neyaashing (roasting wild rice at the Point) honours and renews Anishinaabeg’s relationship with one another, Neyaashing, and manoomin, and in doing so enacts governance. Our people have always gathered at Neyaashing and through colonial processes we have been displaced from it. Kaapizigemin manoomin Neyaashing is a land-based pedagogy that inspired Anishinaabeg elders, youth, men and women to participate in creating a space for remembering, reclaiming and re-visioning nationhood on our land. As the Elders have shared, Anishinaabeg’s treaty with manoomin and relationship with Neyaashing continue to be vital in positioning an empowering assertion of nationhood. This paper discusses this important act of resurgence.