Stored in the Bones: Safeguarding Indigenous Living Heritages

A new tool for preserving Indigenous cultural heritagesIntangible cultural heritage (ICH) consists of community-based practices, knowledges, and customs that are inherited and passed down through generations. While ICH has always existed, a legal framework for its protection only emerged in 2003 with the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In Stored in the Bones, Agnieszka Pawłowska-Mainville details her work with Anishinaabeg and Inninuwag harvesters to showcase their cultural heritage elements and to provide a new discourse for the promotion and transmition of Indigenous ICH. The book focuses on lived experiences of the akiwenziyag and kitayatisuk (“men of the land” in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe and Inninumowin/Cree, respectively). These men shared their dibaajimowinan “life stories” and living heritage—from putting down tobacco to tending traplines—with Pawłowska-Mainville during her fifteen years in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Illustrating the importance of ICH recognition, Pawłowska-Mainville describes her experience with the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission regarding the impacts of the Keeyask hydro development and her documentation of the Pimachiowin Aki UNESCO World Heritage Site. By performing and transmitting their living heritage, the akiwenziyag and kitayatisuk are, in the words of Richard Morrison, “doing what they are supposed to: “energizing and strengthening their bones as they walk this Earth.” Providing practical ways to safeguard ICH, Pawłowska-Mainville demonstrates that discursive frameworks for living heritage can assist communities in connecting youth with their ancestors and preserving their knowledge and practices for future generations. Stored in the Bones enriches discussions of treaty rights, land claims, and environmental and cultural policy. Presenting an international framework that may be used to advance community interests in dealings with provincial or federal governments, the study offers a pathway for Indigenous peoples to document knowledge that is “stored in the bones.”

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter 1: Living Heritage Chapter 2: Intangible Heritage Chapter 3: “The last one to know” Chapter 4: “‘Clean energy,’ they say” Chapter 5: “The land will stand for you” Conclusion Appendix 1 Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventorying Card Appendix 2 Inventory Guidelines Appendix 3 Useful Resources Abbreviations Glossary of Anishinaabemowin and Inninumowin Terms Bibliography Notes Index

About the Author :
Agnieszka Pawłowska-Mainville is UNESCO Chair in Living Heritage and Sustainable Livelihoods and associate professor in Global and International Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Review :
"Pawlowska-Mainville's book is a necessary read for anyone interested in the practice of cultural preservation efforts both within Indigenous communities and with regards to other at risk communities. Very few academic texts leave my hands with tears on the page, and hers was one of them. The book is a deep portrait of intellect, passion, and kindness with a rallying call for cultural mobilisation."--Claire Grenier "JACANZS" "The book considers how intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is missing from existing consultative processes, with the result being an impoverished ability for settler colonial governments and industry to register, acknowledge, and mitigate the impact of their decisions and actions on Indigenous livelihoods, heritage, sovereignty, and governance... Using the lens of international ICH efforts enables Pawlowska-Mainville to create a narrative in which Indigenous nations are (or could be) interlocutors with nations around the globe. A powerful message within the book is that, when it comes to ICH, the Canadian state is not the status quo; it is behind the times." --Cara Krmpotich "American Indian Culture and Research Journal" "In Stored in the Bones, Pawlowska-Mainville mixes the rich stories of her Indigenous guides--including Anishinaabe/Ojibwe medicine man Richard Morrison, Poplar River trapper Abel Bruce, and Inninu trapper Noah Massan--with the practical aspects of preserving intangible cultural heritage. Their oral storytelling is an example of cultural heritage preservation, as all three men passed away before the book was published." --Shari Narine "Windspeaker"