Smudge This: Assimilation, State-Favoured Communities and the Denial of Indigenous Spiritual Lives

This paper will examine how the transformation of Indigenous places has interrupted the inheriting processes of Indigenous communities. The primary contention of this inquiry is that the spirit world for Anishnaabeg is place-based. Amidst colonialism and the introduction of Christianity during contact, the spiritual lives of humans, non-humans, and therefore place were damaged. The ability of we Indigenous peoples to inherit elements of our cosmologies amidst these transformed, industrialized places has also been compromised. Issues of material, spatial, and spiritual disembodiment as related to localized, ceremonial practices will be explored. Specifically, meaningful ceremony versus “boardroom smudging” will be examined as it relates to the assimilationist agenda of the state.