Works of literature written by Native Americans have long been treated by readers and critics as expressions of cultural identity: transparent representations of communal world-views, traditional belief-systems, or sets of cultural practices. Often, such ethnographic readings come at the expense of understanding how these texts express the political concerns of their authors. My dissertation pushes back against such readings, showing how Ojibwe writers attempt to use literature as a means of shaping public opinion in the pursuit of pragmatic political goals. Reconsidering Ojibwe writing in this way, I examine how Ojibwe authors use their work to engage in dialog with non-Native readers and writers in the U.S.--an interaction they insist be understood as transnational. By comparing literary representations of the Ojibwe produced by both U.S. writers and the Ojibwe themselves, I show how poems, novels, and dramatic works have been the site at which the possibility of Ojibwe nationhood has been imagined and contested for nearly two centuries. In so doing, I suggest that Ojibwe literature is not a stable and homogenous category, but an expedient response to U.S. settler-colonialism defined by a shared set of political commitments. In so doing, I complicate prior theorizations of indigenous literary nationalism as a project primarily oriented toward cultural separatism, replacing them with a more nuanced model of continual, if agonistic, engagement on the imperfectly leveling field of literary representation.

Between 1821 and 1871, evangelical missionaries representing the dominant Protestant and Catholic churches, ventured to Sault Ste. Marie. They came to proselytize and 'civilize' the Anishinabeg community living in the borderlands of British North America and the United States. Within the Sault region, the Anishinabeg, as well as Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, and Presbyterian ministers, interacted in a multiplicity of ways which led to the development of different understandings concerning both conversion and Christianity. / To contextualize the multiplicity of interactions within the context of the borderlands, this dissertation delves into the local history of the American and Canadian Sault villages, Indian policies, and missions before discussing the processes of translation, conversion, and participant interactions. After establishing the historical context of the Sault region, this study focuses on the role of women and cultural intermediaries employed in spreading Christianity. In particular, their roles, lives, actions, and opinions concerning the processes of missionization are explored. Finally, in examining conversion, this dissertation addresses both missionary and Anishinabeg understandings while avoiding the pitfalls of success/failure dichotomy. / This study demonstrates that the Sault-region Anishinabeg, while nominally Christian by the mid-nineteenth century, perceived their conversions and Christianity from within their cultural framework. Additionally, the cultural intermediaries often neglected in mission studies, played a pivotal role in presenting the Christian message to potential converts. Women, whether Native or non-Native, likewise performed a variety of tasks at the missions which must be considered when examining the multiplicity of interactions between proselytizer and proselyte. The nature of the border region allowed the Anishinabeg to retain a sense of independence in action and thought which is reflected in the processes of Christianization until the 1870s. Taken together, the multiplicity of observers, participants, translations, understandings, interpretations, and conversions can be aptly described as a whirlwind where the disconnected became connected. However one views these multiplicities, the processes at work can only be glimpsed as snapshots of understanding.

Canadian economic development is heavily reliant on natural resources in the north, which is home to many indigenous communities. Canada is facing increasing pressure to accommodate the cultural distinctiveness of indigenous peoples, and recognize their rights to self-determination within the boundaries of the state. This thesis investigates the customary land use system of Pikangikum First Nation in northwestern Ontario in the context of a community-led land use planning and resource management process, and explores the legacy and contemporary relevance of the Ontario trapline system which was introduced in 1947. Traplines represent the first intervention by the modern state in spatial organization of resource management by First Nations people outside reserves in northern Ontario. For this study, mixed methods were employed, including mapping, life history interviewing, observation in the field, and archival research. Results indicate that Pikangikum's access to resources and decision-making authority has continued to operate according to customary institutions that pre-date the traplines. While traplines were found to reduce flexibility of movement which characterized the customary system, they secured fur harvesting rights for First Nation groups, buffering Euro-Canadian encroachment on Pikangikum's traditional harvesting areas. Recent forestry activity on traplines held by Pikangikum residents indicated that traplines were no longer a sufficient buffer to intrusions. The planning initiative mandated the creation of novel community-level institutions. This process has in turn created new community-level management dilemmas, yet has had important consequences in terms of planning and management authority for Pikangikum vis-à-vis state resource management. The main theoretical contributions of this thesis relate to the commons literature, and pertain both to strategic territorial robustness to interventions of the state and outside intruders, and to moral economic dimensions of community-managed commons undergoing rapid change.

Canadian economic development is heavily reliant on natural resources in the north, which is home to many indigenous communities. Canada is facing increasing pressure to accommodate the cultural distinctiveness of indigenous peoples, and recognize their rights to self-determination within the boundaries of the state. This thesis investigates the customary land use system of Pikangikum First Nation in northwestern Ontario in the context of a community-led land use planning and resource management process, and explores the legacy and contemporary relevance of the Ontario trapline system which was introduced in 1947. Traplines represent the first intervention by the modern state in spatial organization of resource management by First Nations people outside reserves in northern Ontario. For this study, mixed methods were employed, including mapping, life history interviewing, observation in the field, and archival research. Results indicate that Pikangikum's access to resources and decision-making authority has continued to operate according to customary institutions that pre-date the traplines. While traplines were found to reduce flexibility of movement which characterized the customary system, they secured fur harvesting rights for First Nation groups, buffering Euro-Canadian encroachment on Pikangikum's traditional harvesting areas. Recent forestry activity on traplines held by Pikangikum residents indicated that traplines were no longer a sufficient buffer to intrusions. The planning initiative mandated the creation of novel community-level institutions. This process has in turn created new community-level management dilemmas, yet has had important consequences in terms of planning and management authority for Pikangikum \emph{vis-à-vis} state resource management. The main theoretical contributions of this thesis relate to the commons literature, and pertain both to strategic territorial robustness to interventions of the state and outside intruders, and to moral economic dimensions of community-managed commons undergoing rapid change.

Thesis (EdD)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Marilyn Lockhart. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-165).

Thesis (D. Min. )--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2005. / Includes abstract and vita "March 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 311-334).

Thesis (D. Min. )--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2005. / Includes abstract and vita "March 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 311-334).

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This thesis explores regenerating Anishinaabekwe (women’s) empowerment. The teaching of the ogichitaakwe (an Anishinaabekwe who is committed to helping the Anishinaabe people) was investigated to gain knowledge of how this aspect of the Anishinaabekwe ideology can be used to challenge the effects of colonialism in community. The goal of the thesis is to frame solutions to the effects of colonialism from the foundation of empowerment via the Anishinaabekwe ideology. The thesis examines how the Anishinaabekwe ideology in collaboration with radical indigenous feminism is useful in challenging colonialism. To this end, the utilization of self-consciousness-raising groups or Wiisokotaatiwin (gathering together for a purpose) provides the opportunity to address personal decolonization and regeneration. The author will show that by committing to the Anishinaabekwe ideology, the effects of colonialism will be addressed from a place of empowerment and ultimately regenerate the Anishinaabe Nation.