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 Pawlowska-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 Pawlowska-Mainville during her fifteen years in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Illustrating the importance of ICH recognition, Pawlowska-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, Pawlowska-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.”