This talk explores how the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians mobilize Anishinaabe relational methodologies to challenge colonial logics of resource governance. Through community-engaged research including the Nmé restoration program and Elder’s meal program, I examine how Maamawijiwan—an Anishinaabe understanding of watersheds—offers an alternative framework for jurisdiction that centers Indigenous sovereignty and everyday practices of belonging. Tracing histories from treaty-making through contemporary restoration work, this research demonstrates how relationality and cultural agency reshape resource governance in the Great Lakes region.
