Nationhood Interrupted

Revitalizing nêhiyaw Legal Systems

By Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum)
Categories: Indigenous Studies, Sociology, Canadian Political Science, Indigenous History, Indigenous Law
Publisher: UBC Press
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774880312, 120 pages, January 2019
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774880329, 120 pages, January 2019
Paperback : 9781895830804, 120 pages, February 2015

Table of contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Disclaimer

tawâw niwâhkômâkanak

Introduction: ahâw . . . pîhtokwêk

Soulflame manitow wiyinikêwina

The Promised Land

Rebuilding Indigenous Nationhood

Idle No More

Glossary of nêhiyawêwin Terms

Notes

Sylvia McAdam, a co-founder of the international movement Idle No More, shares nêhiyaw (Cree) laws so that future generations, both nêhiyaw and non-Indigenous people, may understand and live by them to revitalize Indigenous nationhood.

Description

Traditionally, nêhiyaw (Cree) laws are shared and passed down through oral customs — stories, songs, ceremonies — using lands, waters, animals, land markings and other sacred rites. However, the loss of the languages, customs, and traditions of Indigenous peoples as a direct result of colonization has necessitated this departure from the oral tradition to record the physical laws of the nêhiyaw. McAdam, a co-founder of the international movement Idle No More, shares nêhiyaw laws so that future generations, both nêhiyaw and non-Indigenous people, may understand and live by them to revitalize Indigenous nationhood.

Awards

  • Winner, Regina Public Library Aboriginal Peoples’ Publishing Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards 2016
  • Winner, Aboriginal Peoples’ Publishing Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards 2016
  • Short-listed, University of Saskatchewan Non-Fiction Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards 2016
  • Winner, Rasmussen, Rasmussen and Charowsky Aboriginal Peoples’ Writing Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards 2016
  • Short-listed, Non-Fiction Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards 2016

Reviews

The text employs many Cree words, but this is done in a way that makes the meaning clear to non-indigenous readers, and there’s a glossary for those who don’t know the language.

- Alexis Kienlen