Our Hearts Are as One Fire

An Ojibway-Anishinabe Vision for the Future

By Jerry Fontaine
Categories: Indigenous Studies, History, Indigenous History
Publisher: UBC Press
Hardcover : 9780774862875, 280 pages, August 2020
Paperback : 9780774862882, 280 pages, August 2020
Ebook (PDF) : 9780774862899, 280 pages, August 2020
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780774862905, 280 pages, August 2020
Ebook (MobiPocket) : 9780774862912, 180 pages, June 2020

Table of contents

Foreword / Lee Anne Cameron

Ah-di-so-kay Anishinabeg / Traditional Storytellers

Maaitaa / Prologue

Nitam igo / Introduction

1 Gah-o-mah-mah-wahn-dah-wi-zid gah-ki-nah-gay-goo ji-gi-kayn-dah-so aki / A prophet is someone who has a completed view of the world

2 Obwandiac / The Man who Travelled and Stopped at Many Places

3 Tecumtha / He Walked Across

4 Shingwauk / The White Pine, Boss of All the Trees

5 N’swi-ish-ko-day-kawn Anishinabeg O’dish-ko-day-kawn / Our Hearts Are as One Fire

6 Meegwetch bi-zhin-dah-wi-yeg / Thank you for listening to me

Wayekwaase / It is finished

Appendix

Timeline

Glossary; Notes; Index

Reframing Manitou Aki (Creator's Land) history from the perspective of the Ojibway-Anishinabe, Our Hearts Are as One Fire shares a vision for the leaders of today and tomorrow.

Description

A vision shared. A manifesto. This remarkable work argues that Anishinabeg need to reconnect with non-colonized modes of thinking, social organization, and decision making in order to achieve genuine sovereignty. In Our Hearts Are as One Fire, Jerry Fontaine recounts the stories of three Ota’wa, Shawnee, and Ojibway-Anishinabe leaders who challenged aggressive colonial expansion – Obwandiac, Tecumtha, and Shingwauk. He weaves Ojibwaymowin language and knowledge with conversations with elders and descendants of the three leaders. The result is a book that reframes the history of Manitou Aki, sharing a vision of how Anishinabe spiritual, cultural, legal, and political principles will support the leaders of today and tomorrow.

Reviews

Fontaine locates the context for the reader before introducing his own personal narrative and this lends even more credence to the book… This account deserves to be read carefully and particularly by those who may not wish to know its truths.

- Réamonn Ó Ciaráin, director of education, Celtic Junction Arts Center

Our Hearts Are as One Fire shines when taken as a teaching text... This book is a powerful reminder that Anishinabe resistance has been ongoing for hundreds of years and continues to this day.

- Anna J. Willow, Ohio State University